Towards Sustainable Population Management - Waza

Vol 12 2011 

Towards Sustainable 

Population Management 

The Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) is one of the pioneering taxa for which a Global Species Management Plan (GSMP) 

has been established under the auspices of WAZA to collaborate inter-regionally on propagating the taxon in human care 

and supporting conservation efforts in the wild. | © Harald Löffler

Imprint 

Editors: 

Markus Gusset & Gerald Dick 

WAZA Executive Office 

IUCN Conservation Centre 

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CH-1196 Gland 

Switzerland 

phone: +41 22 999 07 90 

fax: +41 22 999 07 91 

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Czech Republic 

Edition: 750 copies 

© WAZA 2011 

This edition of WAZA Magazine 

is also available on 

www.waza.org. 

WAZA is a registered 

interest representative with 

the European Commission, 

ID number 30556573017-18. 

Printed on FSC paper. 

ISSN: 2074-4528 

Founding 

Member 

Contents 

Editorial | 

Markus Gusset & Gerald Dick ..... 1 

Global Programmes for 

Sustainability | 

Caroline M. Lees & 

Jonathan Wilcken .......................2 

Maintaining the Status 

of Species Management in 

a Changing Operating 

Environment: 

Outcomes over Outputs | 

Chris Hibbard, Carolyn J. Hogg, 

Claire Ford & Amanda 

Embury .......................................6 

Sustainability of European 

Association of Zoos and 

Aquaria Bird and Mammal 

Populations | 

Kristin Leus, Laurie Bingaman 

Lackey, William van Lint, 

Danny de Man, Sanne Riewald, 

Anne Veldkam & 

Joyce Wijmans .......................... 11 

Status of Association of Zoos 

and Aquariums Cooperatively 

Managed Populations | 

Sarah Long, Candice Dorsey & 

Paul Boyle ................................. 15 

Captive Populations and 

Genetic Sustainability | 

Jonathan D. Ballou & 

Kathy Traylor-Holzer ................19 

Mate Choice as a Potential Tool 

to Increase Population 

Sustainability | 

Cheryl S. Asa, Kathy 

Traylor-Holzer & 

Robert C. Lacy .......................... 23 

© Nicole Gusset-Burgener 

WAZA magazine Vol 12/2011 

Zoos Can Lead the Way 

with Ex Situ Conservation | 

Dalia A. Conde, Nate Flesness, 

Fernando Colchero, 

Owen R. Jones & 

Alexander Scheuerlein .............26 

Identifying Gaps and 

Opportunities for 

Inter-regional Ex Situ 

Species Management | 

Kathy Traylor-Holzer ................30 

Which Species Have a Studbook 

and How Threatened Are They? | 

Frank Oberwemmer, 

Laurie Bingaman Lackey & 

Markus Gusset .......................... 34 

How to Measure Husbandry 

Success? The Life Expectancy 

of Zoo Ruminants | 

Dennis W. H. Müller, 

Laurie Bingaman Lackey, 

W. Jürgen Streich, Jörns Fickel, 

Jean-Michel Hatt & 

Marcus Clauss ........................... 37 

Intensive Management 

of Populations for Conservation | 

Anne M. Baker, Robert C. Lacy, 

Kristin Leus & Kathy 

Traylor-Holzer ...........................40


Markus Gusset 

Editorial 

1 & Gerald Dick2 A recent evaluation of the status of 

the world’s vertebrates (Hoffmann 

et al. 2010; Science 330: 1503–1509) 

showed that one-fifth of species are 

classified as threatened. On average, 

52 species of mammals, birds and 

amphibians move closer to extinction 

each year. However, the rate of deterioration 

would have been at least 

one-fifth more in the absence of conservation 

measures. Therefore, while 

current conservation efforts remain 

insufficient to offset the main drivers 

of biodiversity loss, this overall pattern 

conceals the impact of conservation 

successes. Notably, conservation 

breeding in zoos and aquariums has 

played a role in the recovery of 28% 

of the 68 species whose threat status 

was reduced. 

To fulfil the full suite of conservation 

roles required of animal populations 

in human care, they must be 

demographically robust, genetically 

representative of wild counterparts 

and able to sustain these characteristics 

for the foreseeable future. In 

light of growing concerns about the 

long-term sustainability of captive 

populations, WAZA organised 

a two-day workshop in April 2011 on 

the sustainable management of zoo 

animal populations. This workshop, 

which was an integral part of a series 

of workshops on related topics 

summarised in this edition of the 

WAZA Magazine, tackled the issue 

of studbook-based global population 

management, which lies at the heart 

of successful conservation breeding 

programmes aimed at preserving 

biodiversity. 

1 WAZA Conservation Officer & 

International Studbook 

Coordinator 

2 WAZA Executive Director 


Lion (Panthera leo) in the Serengeti. 

In this edition of the WAZA Magazine, 

the results of population sustainability 

assessments globally (Lees & 

Wilcken) and in three major regions 

(Australasia: Hibbard et al.; Europe: 

Leus et al.; North America: Long et 

al.) are presented. Two important biological 

factors impacting population 

sustainability are reviewed, namely 

genetics (Ballou & Traylor-Holzer) and 

mate choice (Asa et al.). Overviews 

of how biodiversity is represented in 

zoological institutions (Conde et al.), 

managed programmes (Traylor-Holzer) 

and studbooks (Oberwemmer et 

al.) are provided, including a study on 

studbook-driven husbandry success 

(Müller et al.). Finally, a vision for the 

future of population sustainability is 

outlined (Baker et al.). 

We hope that this edition of the 

WAZA Magazine will make a substantial 

contribution to the challenge of 

how animal populations in human 

care can be managed sustainably in 

the long term, and thereby further 

increase the contribution of the world 

zoo and aquarium community to 

global biodiversity conservation. 

1

2 WAZA magazine Vol 12/2011 

Caroline M. Lees 

Global Programmes for Sustainability 

1 * & Jonathan Wilcken2 Summary 

Zoos and aquariums may support 

multiple conservation endeavours. 

They may be involved in the design 

and delivery of environmental education 

programmes, support wildlife 

research, provide funds, manpower 

and expertise in intensive management 

to support conservation efforts 

and, increasingly, are involved in the 

interactive management of captive 

and wild populations. These activities 

rely on the presence in zoos of living 

animal collections. To fulfil all of the 

roles required of them, these animal 

collections must be demographically 

robust, genetically representative of 

wild counterparts and able to sustain 

these characteristics for the foreseeable 

future. Here, we propose a definition 

of a “sustainable” population, describe 

the challenges in building one 

and explore the potential of global 

species management programmes to 

overcome some of these challenges. 

1 IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding 

Specialist Group Australasia, 

c/o Auckland Zoo, Auckland, 

New Zealand 

2 Auckland Zoo, Auckland, New Zealand 

* E-mail for correspondence: 

caroline@cbsgaustralasia.org 

Sustainable 

Populations 

We define a sustainable population 

here as one that is able to persist, 

indefinitely, with the resources 

available to it. Under this definition, 

sustainable populations fall into two 

categories: 

Category 1: Self-sustaining Populations. 

This includes populations with 

sufficient internal resources to persist 

without supplementation. That is, 

they are large enough to withstand 

or avoid the otherwise damaging 

effects of small population size (i.e. 

naturally fluctuating birth and death 

rates, sex ratio skews, inbreeding, 

low gene diversity) (Frankham et al. 

2002). Populations in this category 

are necessarily very large. 

Category 2: Supplemented Populations. 

This second category contains populations 

that, usually because of their 

smaller size, do not have sufficient internal 

resources for self-sustainability, 

but are supported by external supplementation. 

For the sustainability test 

to be satisfied, this supplementation 

must be from source populations able 

themselves to sustain the required 

harvest without depletion. A population 

of any size can be sustainable 

provided that the supplementing 

source population can accommodate 

the required harvest. The larger and 

better managed the population, the 

lower the rate of supplementation 

needed. 

Fig. 1 

Recommended allocation of captive resources 

based on IUCN categories of extinction risk 

(modified from Lees & Wilcken 2009). 

It seems reasonable to suggest that 

all taxa for which the captive population 

constitutes a significant part of 

the species’ genome, or for which 

further collection from the wild is 

considered impossible, should be 

managed as self-sustaining captive 

populations. Included would be all 

species categorised by the International 

Union for Conservation of 

Nature (IUCN) as Extinct in the Wild 

or Critically Endangered, and some of 

those categorised as Endangered or 

Vulnerable. 

On the other hand, those species 

for which further collection from the 

wild is still considered a viable and 

responsible option may be more efficiently 

maintained through periodic, 

minimal and scientifically calculated 

rates of supplementation from the 

wild (Fig. 1). It is important that population 

size targets are calculated and 

periodically revised for each individual 

population, based on its characteristics 

and management. However, 

indicative ranges of population sizes 

can be suggested for each of these 

categories of sustainability.


Targets for 

Self-sustainability 

For self-sustainability, populations 

ought to encounter no net loss of 

genetic diversity. Genetic diversity 

is the raw material for evolution 

and as it declines so does a population’s 

adaptive potential (Frankham 

et al. 2002). Genetic diversity is 

lost through non-random breeding 

and chance processes (drift), and is 

gained by mutation. The smallest 

population size for which drift is balanced 

by mutation is estimated to be 

about N e = 500 (Frankham et al. 2002), 

where N e is the effective population 

size and genetic diversity is measured 

through heterozygosity and additive 

genetic variance. N e is a measure of 

that proportion of the census population 

that is contributing to the next 

generation. 

The ratio of effective to actual population 

size (N e /N) is greatest where 

the number of animals that reproduce 

is high, the sex ratio of breeding 

animals is equal and the life-time 

family sizes of reproducing animals 

are also equal, with the latter having 

most influence in zoo populations. 

Wild populations differ significantly 

from these ideal characteristics and 

may achieve N e /N ratios of around 0.1 

(Frankham et al. 2002). That is, they 

may require about 5,000 animals 

to achieve a sustainable effective 

population size of 500. Through management, 

captive populations can be 

brought closer to these ideal characteristics, 

regularly showing N e /N ratios 

of 0.2–0.4, though ratios as high 

as 0.7 have been reported (Willis & 

Wiese 1993). Based on these reported 

ratios, for captive populations to be 

self-sustaining, they will need an N e 

of at least 500, or an actual population 

size of 700–1,900 animals. 

Targets for 

Supplemented 

Sustainability 

Models suggest that it is possible to 

retain relatively high levels of gene 

diversity in population sizes smaller 

than N e = 500 if coupled with periodic 

addition of new founders (Lacy 1987; 

Willis & Wiese 1993). At low population 

sizes (50–100), the supplementation 

rates required are too high to be 

contemplated (Willis & Wiese 1993) 

and demographic factors pose a real 

risk. However, at an N e of 120, Lacy 

(1987) calculated that it is possible 

to retain 95% of wild gene diversity 

with the addition of five new founders 

each generation. In zoos, N e = 120 

could equate to somewhere between 

170 and 460 animals, depending on 

the effectiveness of management. 

It should be noted that the extent 

to which new wild founders may be 

responsibly available will depend on 

political and community sensitivities, 

and logistical and biological constraints. 

Any such initiatives should 

be based on an appropriate assessment 

of wild population viability. 

Global Potential 

In addition to sufficient size, populations 

need to be imbued with enough 

gene diversity in the form of founders, 

and they need to sustain the 

requisite growth rate to avoid large 

fluctuations in size. In recent years, 

a number of studies, including the 

one on which this article is based 

(Lees & Wilcken 2009), have shown 

that regional population management 

programmes are not achieving 

the conditions for sustainability. They 

are too small, are based on too few 

founders and are not achieving the 

required growth rates. 

Global Sustainability 

However, a review of potential across 

regions suggests that a move to 

global coordination would overcome 

some of the current within-region 

limitations. For example, of the populations 

registered in international 

studbooks (ISIS/WAZA 2005), 57.3% 

fall within the population size range 

required for supplemented sustainability, 

as it is described above. 

In addition to species registered in 

international studbooks and again 

using data from the International 

Species Information System (ISIS), we 

estimate that by linking up regionally 

managed populations into global programmes, 

the average population size 

for vertebrate taxa can be increased 

from 120 to 170, placing many more 

taxa within the accessible range for 

supplemented sustainability. 

Further, of the populations registered 

in international studbooks (ISIS/ 

WAZA 2005), 9% fall within the population 

size range for self-sustainability, 

including scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx 

dammah) (Extinct in the Wild), Przewalski’s 

horse (Equus ferus przewalskii) 

(Critically Endangered) and Amur 

tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) (Endangered) 

– all of which fall into risk 

categories where self-sustainability is 

either advisable or essential (Fig. 2). 

3 

»

» 

4 Global Sustainability 


Global versus Regional 

Management 

Despite the obvious sustainability 

advantages of global management, it 

remains the exception and regional 

management the norm. The reasons 

for this are easily identified: within- 

region transfers are logistically 

simpler and often less expensive, permitting 

and quarantine requirements 

are less onerous and the necessary 

administrative structures and lines of 

communication are (usually) better 

established and more effective. Indeed, 

the zoo region is often the most 

sensible unit for cooperation, particularly 

for local species that are the 

focus of short-term breed-for-release 

initiatives. However, as described 

above, many regional populations are 

not reaching viable sizes. Populations 

tracked across multiple regions reach 

necessarily larger sizes. Inter-regional 

or global management, though 

difficult to implement successfully, 

offers not only the advantage of scale 

but also of strategic overview. For 

example: 

• For small, widely dispersed populations, 

global management provides 

an opportunity to link up a number 

of isolated, unsustainable units, 

improving demographic stability 

and managing inbreeding and gene 

diversity more effectively. 

• Research demonstrates that the 

genetic diversity of large global 

populations may benefit from 

strategic population subdivision and 

restricted but carefully managed 

migration between these subpopulations. 

Regional populations offer 

convenient subpopulations for use 

in this context. 

• For expanding populations that are 

primarily held in one region but 

sought after in others, global management 

may be a useful mechanism 

for distributing important 

founder lines so that overall genetic 

diversity is maximised. In the ab- 

Fig. 2 

Przewalski’s horses are potentially 

self-sustaining at a global level. 

© Chris Walzer/International Takhi Group 

sence of such management, overrepresented 

lines are often continually 

exported from the source region 

to found new populations. This can 

reduce the genetic potential and 

therefore the conservation value 

of those populations and of overall 

global stocks. 

In certain circumstances then, global 

management offers greater potential 

for extending the viability of zoo 

populations and improving their 

value to conservation. For this potential 

to be reached, global management 

needs to be a more accessible 

option. The new WAZA framework for 

Global Species Management Plans 

(GSMPs) provides this access and its 

use should be encouraged.


Recommendations 

If zoo populations are not sustainable, 

neither are zoos themselves. Too few 

populations are currently satisfying 

the conditions for sustainability. 

There is scope for reversing this trend 

but it requires renewed commitment 

and new investment. The following 

five-point plan summarises steps that 

could be taken towards this end. 

Step 1: Global Audit. A complete audit 

of WAZA populations to provide 

a useful snapshot of potential, for use 

in planning. 

Step 2: Global Planning. An inclusive 

process, based on the audit, to identify 

a list of priority species for global 

management, based on population 

potential as well as wild status. 

Step 3: Global Targets. Calculation 

of global target population sizes for 

each priority species, based on appropriate 

science and a rationale of 

sustainability: 

• All taxa categorised by IUCN as Extinct 

in the Wild or Critically Endangered 

should be assigned a target 

N e of 500 (700 < N < 1,900). 

• All other taxa for which recruitment 

from the wild is considered inappropriate 

or impossible should also be 

assigned a target N e of 500. 

• For taxa where recruiting new 

founders is not considered inappropriate 

or impossible, an N e of 

120 (170 < N < 460) should be the 

target, in conjunction with the input 

of around five new founders each 

generation. 

• Exceptions to this could be: taxa 

being deliberately phased out, taxa 

present for short-term research or 

breed-for-release programmes and 

taxa for which there are established 

gene banks that allow gene 

diversity targets to be met at lower 

numbers (noting that demographic 

considerations should dictate the 

minimum number in such cases). 

Step 4: Global Investment. Appropriate 

investment in professional species 

managers, husbandry innovation 

and supporting technology. This 

will help ensure that science-based 

targets are set and that programmes 

are designed and managed to meet 

those targets at achievable population 

sizes. 

Step 5: Global Commitment. 

Long-term programmes require 

long-term commitment. Mechanisms 

for securing this commitment from 

participating zoos should be factored 

into industry benchmarking and accreditation 

programmes. 

Sustaining the viability and genetic 

value of zoo populations requires 

larger, better founded and more 

imaginatively managed populations 

than we often have at our disposal. 

A concerted move away from 

regional and towards global coordination 

of genetic and demographic 

management has the potential to 

dramatically improve the quality of 

captive resources available to support 

wild populations of many species. 

Fully mobilising that resource will be 

challenging, but must be a priority 

for the world’s zoos over the coming 

decade. 

References 

Global Sustainability 5 

• Frankham, R., Ballou, J. D. & 

Briscoe, D. A. (2002) Introduction 

to Conservation Genetics. Cambridge: 

Cambridge University 

Press. 

• ISIS/WAZA (2005) Studbook Library 

CD-ROM. Eagan, MN: ISIS. 

• Lacy, R. C. (1987) Loss of genetic 

diversity from managed populations: 

interacting effects of drift, 

mutation, immigration, selection, 

and population subdivision. Conservation 

Biology 1: 143–158. 

• Lees, C. M. & Wilcken, J. (2009) 

Sustaining the Ark: the challenges 

faced by zoos in maintaining 

viable populations. International 

Zoo Yearbook 43: 6–18. 

• Willis, K. & Wiese, R. J. (1993) 

Effect of new founders on retention 

of gene diversity in captive 

populations: a formalization of 

the nucleus population concept. 

Zoo Biology 12: 535–548.


Chris Hibbard 

Maintaining the Status of Species 

Management in a Changing Operating 

Environment: Outcomes over Outputs 

1 *, Carolyn J. Hogg1 , Claire Ford1 & Amanda Embury2 Summary 

The Australasian region’s Zoo and 

Aquarium Association (ZAA) is recognised 

internationally for its innovative 

approach to species management. 

A 2005 review of species management 

in the region highlighted an 

alarming proportion of species that 

were unlikely to be sustainable in 

the long term. In reaction to this, the 

Australasian Species Management 

Program (ASMP) developed a benchmarking 

tool, the ASMP Health 

Check Report, to measure fact-based 

criteria by breaking down species 

management into measurable components. 

The Health Check Report 

is structured into four portfolios: 

Administration, Science, Legislation 

and Overall Performance. The results 

of the Health Check Report allow 

ZAA to monitor the performance of 

ASMPs and better understand the 

1 Zoo and Aquarium Association 

Australasia, Sydney, Australia 

2 Australasian Species Management 

Program, c/o Zoos Victoria, 

Melbourne, Australia 


chris@zooaquarium.org.au 

skills/expertise required to deliver the 

desired outcomes. Results are also 

incorporated into any annual report 

that is provided to directors of member 

organisations to provide succinct 

advice about the performance of 

ASMPs to which they contribute. The 

Health Check Report allows for an 

up-to-date assessment of managed 

programmes within their scope and 

activities, while providing assurance 

to the ZAA Board of Directors, and 

ultimately the membership, on the 

improvement, accountability and 

persistence of the region’s priority 

programmes. 

Introduction 

The Australasian zoo and aquarium 

environment is geographically isolated, 

relatively small in population 

size and has a rigorous legislative 

environment. As a result, it has an 

established regional commitment to 

cooperative species management, 

a particular necessity with exotic 

species. As the conditions of geography, 

population and legislation are 

non-abating, it is vital that the region 

not only remains at the forefront of 

species management but recognises 

the importance of ongoing review 

and assessment of our species management 

performance. Small population 

biology in support of species 

management has been utilised by 

the zoo industry since the mid-1990s 

(reviewed in Ballou et al. 2010), and 

more recently the importance of sustainability 

relative to the challenges 

faced by zoos in maintaining viable 

populations has been discussed (Lees 

& Wilcken 2009). Of specific relevance 

to this article is the issue raised by 

Lees & Wilcken (2009) over implementing 

recommendations within 

institutions.


In 2008, the Australasian Species 

Management Program (ASMP), 

the species management arm of 

ZAA, commissioned a review of the 

delivery of species management outcomes 

within the Australasian region. 

The initial discussion related largely 

to exotic taxa and was prefaced by 

a report prepared on the status of all 

exotic taxa under formal management 

within the Australasian region. 

The report suggested that an alarming 

proportion of exotic taxa were 

unlikely to be sustainable in the long 

term, including some which were 

facing imminent local extinctions in 

Australasian zoos (Barlow & Hibbard 

2005). The scope of this discussion 

quickly expanded to include all Australasian 

programmes (both native 

and exotic) where a level of formal 

management had been applied. 

The ASMP Committee, through the 

ZAA Board of Directors, launched 

a full review of species management 

services under the banner of the 

Future Directions Project. The ASMP 

Committee recognised the sound 

foundations already in place and focused 

on addressing issues that had 

arisen as a result of the programme 

maturing and operating environments 

evolving. In broad terms, the 

project was to examine resourcing, 

policies, processes and species to be 

managed. In order to apply specific 

and measured resolutions, the 

project was tasked with determining 

the specific causes for the shortfall in 

overall population “health” of species 

in managed programmes and establishing 

actions to resolve these. 

The aim of the project was to improve 

the effectiveness of species management 

programmes through accountability, 

disciplined processes and 

inclusiveness, in order for the ASMP 

to remain current and relevant as 

a member service to the ZAA membership. 

Methodology 

The ASMP Future Directions Project 

commenced in 2008 and was earmarked 

for completion in 2010. There 

were various components to the project 

beginning with a rigorous review 

of the species selected for management 

and the level to which they could 

or should be managed. This article will 

not attempt to document the species 

review process, other than to recognise 

that many excellent models have 

been developed and that the Australasian 

model was not radically different 

from others in current use; that is, it 

addresses key goals identified in the 

World Zoo and Aquarium Conservation 

Strategy (WAZA 2005). For exotic 

taxa, the Australasian model rated 

highly the ongoing ability to acquire 

the species both in terms of import 

legislation and access to new genetic 

material (either by inter-regional or 

range state sources). This was of specific 

importance given the small size 

of our regional populations and the 

need to rely on periodic importation to 

sustain most populations. 

The next step in the process was the 

development of a benchmarking 

tool with the current working title of 

the ASMP Health Check Report. The 

Health Check Report is by no means 

a completed piece of work and continues 

to evolve to reflect a changing 

zoo environment and respond to 

any issues that might be identified in 

the future. In the past, ZAA has used 

a compliance report to measure institutional 

adherence to specific recommendations 

on specimen transfers 

and breeding based on studbook 

analysis. The development of the 

Health Check Report has expanded 

the scope substantially and shifts the 

focus of assessment onto the delivery 

of a suite of measurable programme 

goals rather than the performance of 

individual contributors. The Health 

Check Report measures the overall 

health of the programme as well as 

giving insight into the “health” of 

specific areas. 

ZAA Sustainability 

It was acknowledged that in many 

cases sound scientific principles of 

small population biology had been 

applied; however, the results in 

programme performance were not 

all meeting expectations. A number 

of claims were put forward, many 

of which were consistent with those 

identified by Lees & Wilcken (2009), 

and included: 

• A lack of spaces being offered for 

managed species, fuelled by a trend 

away from multiple, small, speciesspecific 

facilities to larger multi-taxa 

“experiences”, including a move 

away from extensive off-display 

holding facilities. 

• Government legislation over the 

import of exotic taxa was having 

a negative impact on founder recruitment 

for populations. 

• Species biology in some instances 

was not necessarily aligned with the 

mean kinship and genetic management 

employed. 

• The concept that genetic management 

was better understood and 

more rigorously applied by species 

coordinators than demographic 

management and in some instances 

contributed to demographic instability. 

• Species management expertise and 

innovation required further development. 

• Implementation of specific programme 

recommendations although 

usually attempted often was 

not necessarily achieved, or resulted 

in the desired outcome. 

The Health Check Report was developed 

to measure fact-based criteria, 

by breaking down species management 

practices into measurable components. 

This enables a programme’s 

performance to be quickly assessed 

and any remedial measures applied in 

a timely manner where programmes 

are seen to be falling short of expectation. 

In addition, it allows for the acknowledgement 

of positive progress 

and feedback to the many species 

coordinators hosted by member zoos. 

7 

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8 ZAA Sustainability 


» 

The Health Check Report considers 

four broad portfolios with associated 

responsibilities and criteria for 

programme performance, as set 

out in Table 1. Each criterion has 

predetermined scoring parameters 

that is then translated into a traffic 

light system of green (performing 

well), orange (needs some specific 

attention) and red (needs immediate 

attention). The parameters for 

each criterion were set necessarily 

high to ensure the report represents 

a true level of current achievement. 

The scoring does not try to suggest 

a long-term level of sustainability, 

but attempts to isolate some issues 

around immediate need and priority 

for resource allocation. 

Previously used species management 

criteria, such as purpose, role or 

threat status, were no longer considered, 

as these are assessed as part of 

the initial species selection process. 

The Health Check Report is designed 

to look specifically at the operational 

and sustainability performance of the 

species management programme 

after species selection and identification 

of what conservation contribution 

or purpose the population fulfils. 

As an example of the benefits of the 

Health Check Report, only the results 

for the exotic fauna programmes are 

presented here for discussion. The 

data relate to 40 intensively managed 

exotic species programmes in 

the order Mammalia. No exotic bird 

programmes are managed by ZAA 

due to the significant restrictions 

on the importation of birds to the 

region since the 1950s, and the small 

numbers of exotic reptiles that are 

managed are grouped with the native 

reptile data. 

Table 1. 

ASMP Health Check Report: portfolios, responsibilities and scoring criteria. 

Portfolio Primary responsibility Examples of scored criteria 

Administration ZAA ASMP staff Species coordinator assigned, studbook currency 

and accuracy, annual report tendered 

(and currency), level of assistance provided 

to species coordinator, Captive Management 

Plan developed, etc. 

Science Species coordinators, Taxon 

Advisory Groups and participating 

institutions (with 

assistance from the ASMP for 

specific small population biology 

issues as required) 

Retained genetic diversity, average inbreeding, 

success of recommended transfers and 

breeding, etc. 

Legislation ASMP Committee Status of legislation in regard to the import 

from a variety of sources (including range 

states). Restrictions on the keeping of species 

within the region (based on pest potential, 

etc.). This set of criteria is individually tailored 

to exotic, Australian native and New Zealand 

native fauna. 

Overall 

Performance 

ZAA Board of Directors The overall performance score is an amalgamated 

performance of all three criteria 

above. Specific attention is focused on any 

programme with an overall red score. 

Results and Discussion 

Administration. There is a demonstrated 

high compliance of the 

administration of the ASMPs (Fig. 1), 

with almost all programmes having 

a species coordinator assigned; the 

required reporting and interpretation 

of studbook data using PM2000 

(Annual Report and Recommendation 

submitted) being tendered with 

relatively moderate coaching by the 

senior species management staff in 

the ZAA office (species coordinator 

assistance); and the facilities 

nominated score refers to adequate 

spaces dedicated to the programme 

(50 spaces), as set out in the ASMP 

Regional Census and Plan. The significant 

challenge for the region is the 

need to further develop a number of 

strategic planning documents in the 

form of Captive Management Plans 

(CMPs). 

Science. The portfolio with the 

greatest proportion of factors in the 

red zone, and so requiring immediate 

attention, are those found in 

the Science portfolio (Fig. 1). It is 

thought that several factors may be 

cumulating within this area, where 

the transfer failure impacts on the 

planned breeding, which in turn may 

affect the scores for genetic diversity 

(scored as retained at 90% or higher), 

inbreeding (average for population is 

lower than 0.125) and mean kinship 

(average for population is lower than 

0.125). Despite some obvious issues 

with breeding to plan in addition to 

transfer failure, population trends 

remain positive. Further investigation 

is required to determine which proportion 

of the population trend is as 

a result of importation over breeding.


Fig. 1 

ASMP Health Check Report: percentage of scoring in each of three major portfolios and overall 

across 40 intensively managed exotic mammals in ZAA membership, where green (performing 

well), orange (needs some specific attention) and red (needs immediate attention). 

Legislation. The results of the Legislation 

portfolio have been useful in that 

legislative barriers have long been 

considered the significant cause for 

shortfall in programme performance 

(Fig. 1). It is clearly demonstrated that 

there is an ability to import a majority 

of the targeted exotic species 

into the region, and that interaction 

between New Zealand and Australia 

is also well supported by legislation 

(vital for effective Australasian-based 

programmes). There is a requirement 

from the Australian government 

for all species listed in Appendix I of 

the Convention on International 

Trade in Endangered Species of Wild 

Fauna and Flora (CITES) to have an 

approved Cooperative Conservation 

Plan in place prior to any international 

transaction and these are 

largely covered in regard to current 

need. As with other regions, the access 

to new founders is a challenge 

for a large number of programme 

species. The VPC threat category is 

a rating applied by the Australian 

government on the pest potential of 

a species to the environment (including 

public safety), if it were to escape 

and establish. The results here assist 

in identifying the promotion of appropriate 

biosecurity measures in our 

member zoos, which in turn provides 

confidence in granting permits to 

hold such species. 

Overall Performance. The overall 

performance scores (Fig. 1) show 

approximately 75% of all the exotic 

programmes within the sample either 

in good order (green) or with some 

specific issues (yellow). 

Conclusions 

ZAA Sustainability 

The Health Check Report process has 

allowed ZAA to commence a measured 

approach to the assessment 

of its intensively managed species 

programme performance. It is by no 

means exhaustive but does represent 

an ongoing commitment to self-assessment 

and a structured approach 

to problem solving, communicating 

priorities and deployment of resources. 

This will provide tangible benefits 

to supporting programme goals and 

assurances and value to the membership 

of ZAA who jointly fund the 

association’s activities. 

The process has allowed us to mobilise 

resources into the areas of most 

need. Recently the results have been 

fed into the region’s Taxon Advisory 

Group (TAG) structure, with each TAG 

charged with developing a specific 

action plan against any species with 

a red score. As a consequence, there 

has been support in aligning the 

actions of the TAGs, with a greater focus 

on animal husbandry and behaviour 

along with the identification of 

staff training and development. It is 

hoped that this will have a direct and 

positive impact in the areas of animal 

transfers and breeding. 

The legislative assessment has 

proven to be very productive, as it 

has long been considered throughout 

the membership as a primary 

limitation to programme progress. 

Although hoofstock imports continue 

to provide biosecurity challenges 

for the region due to the existing 

commercial livestock industry in both 

New Zealand and Australia, a majority 

of the other taxa can be imported 

under current legislation. 

9 

»

10 ZAA Sustainability 


» 

Of significant interest were the findings 

of the Health Check Report that 

highlighted the challenges associated 

with achieving recommended 

animal transfers and breeding. 

There is a need for detailed assessment 

of contributing factors so that 

resolutions can be developed. These 

outcomes may also indicate a need 

for greater alignment of genetic 

management strategies with the biology 

of the species in order to support 

long-term sustainability outcomes. 

In addition to providing direct 

feedback into the TAGs, the results 

of the Health Check Report now 

feature in every executive summary 

for all Annual Reports and Recommendations 

generated for intensively 

managed populations. The executive 

summary also includes graphical 

evidence of the five-year trends of 

both the genetic and demographic 

management of the programme, as 

well as reporting against the strategic 

goals of the CMP (where these have 

been developed), or against a set of 

generic managed programme goals. 

These executive summaries will be 

collated at the end of every year and 

published as a Director’s Executive 

Summary, so programme performance 

is not only being reported to 

curators and keepers, but also to the 

chief executive officers and directors, 

allowing all those involved to gain 

an understanding of how the programme 

is tracking both in the short 

and long term. 

As described, the Health Check Report 

is not a complete piece of work 

but rather an evolving one. Although 

there appears to be a good delivery 

on annual reporting by species coordinators, 

in the future ZAA will be 

devoting a concerted effort towards 

the development of a greater suite 

of CMPs that guide a more strategic 

approach over the longer term. To 

date ZAA has already completed the 

realignment of the CMP process to 

meet a range of operational, small 

population biology and business 

outcomes. 

In conclusion, the Health Check 

Report: 

• currently provides every TAG with 

an up-to-date assessment of the 

managed programmes within their 

scope and focuses activities on 

constant improvement; 

• allows the ASMP Committee to ensure 

that all managed programmes 

are receiving the appropriate level 

of attention from the TAGs, participating 

institutions and ZAA species 

management staff; 

• provides the membership of ZAA 

and its Board of Directors an assurance 

that a detailed level of scrutiny 

will ensure every effort is applied to 

continued improvement, accountability 

and persistence of the region’s 

priority populations. 

The Health Check Report provides 

a succinct graphic representation of 

the performance of our managed 

species programmes, clearly capturing 

the outcomes towards agreed 

goals achieved during the year. 

Acknowledgements 

We are grateful to Stephanie Behrens 

from the ZAA New Zealand Office for 

helpful feedback on this article and 

the ASMP Committee for their continued 

support and encouragement 

of this project. 

References 

• Ballou, J. D., Lees, C., Faust, L. J., 

Long, S., Lynch, C., Bingaman 

Lackey, L. & Foose, T. J. (2010) 

Demographic and genetic management 

of captive populations. 

In: Wild Mammals in Captivity: 

Principles and Techniques for Zoo 

Management, 2nd ed. (ed. by 

Kleiman, D. G., Thompson, K. 

V. & Kirk Baer, C.), pp. 219–252. 

Chicago, IL: University of Chicago 

Press. 

• Barlow, S. C. & Hibbard, C. (2005) 

Going, going, gone. A zoo without 

exotic mammals? ARAZPA Submission 

148b. Canberra: Department 

of Agriculture, Fisheries 

and Forestry. 






• WAZA (2005) Building a Future 

for Wildlife: The World Zoo and 

Aquarium Conservation Strategy. 

Berne: WAZA.

WAZA magazine Vol 12/2011 11 

Kristin Leus 1,2 *, Laurie Bingaman Lackey 3 , William van Lint 1 , 

Danny de Man 1 , Sanne Riewald 4 , Anne Veldkam 4 & Joyce Wijmans 4 

Sustainability of European 

Association of Zoos and Aquaria 

Bird and Mammal Populations 

Introduction 

A rapid assessment of the sustainability 

of bird and mammal populations 

managed by the European Association 

of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) as 

European Endangered Species Programmes 

(EEPs) and European Studbooks 

(ESBs) was initiated in 2008, in 

response to concerns arising from the 

European Union (EU) bird import ban 

triggered by avian influenza. There is 

as yet no such blanket ban for mammal 

populations, but we have already 

experienced transport restrictions 

for various groups of mammals in 

response to disease outbreaks, such 

as bluetongue, bovine spongiform 

encephalopathy (BSE) and foot-andmouth. 

All of this begs the questions 

“are, or can, EAZA bird and mammal 

populations be sustainable” and 

“what do we mean by sustainable”? 

1 European Association of Zoos 

and Aquaria, Amsterdam, 

The Netherlands 

2 IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding 

Specialist Group Europe, 

c/o Copenhagen Zoo, 

p/a Merksem, Belgium 

3 International Species Information 

System, Eagan, MN, USA 

4 Van Hall Larenstein University 

of Applied Sciences, Leeuwarden, 

The Netherlands 


kristin@cbsgeurope.eu 

Self-sustainability generally implies 

that a population can remain genetically 

and demographically healthy 

without further importation. For the 

time being, the “default” criterion 

for genetic self-sustainability of zoo 

populations is that the captive population 

be able to maintain 90% of the 

genetic diversity of the wild population 

for 100 years without further 

imports. The demographic factor is 

equally important and is a precondition 

for genetic sustainability. Genetic 

diversity comes “wrapped up” in 

living individuals. A population that is 

losing individuals is therefore always 

losing gene diversity – when the animals 

are gone, the genes are gone. 

Are EAZA bird and mammal populations 

demographically self-sustainable? 

Demographic self-sustainability 

implies that, on average, the number 

of births and hatches is as high, or 

higher, than the number of deaths 

(and, where relevant, exports). If 

imports into the EU are becoming 

(more) restricted, then we will have 

to rely on births and hatches in EAZA 

collections or high quality private 

and/or non-EAZA collections in the 

EU to counteract deaths and removals 

of individuals from the population 

for other reasons. This is easy to say 

but hard to track. Although it is encouraging 

that the number of EAZA 

institutions joining the International 

Species Information System (ISIS) 

has rapidly increased over the years, 

some zoos are not yet members; not 

all zoos have entered all their data; 

data are not always up to date; and 

the origin of individuals is not always 

clear. Analysing the EAZA data in ISIS 

will therefore be time-consuming and 

not always successful. We therefore 

decided to evaluate the EAZA EEP 

and ESB bird and mammal populations 

by utilising the SPARKS studbook 

databases. Furthermore, one 

would normally expect that more of 

the managed populations are selfsustainable 

than are non-managed 

populations. 

»

12 

» 

EAZA Sustainability 

Methods 

A total of 91 bird and 177 mammal 

populations were analysed. The 

datasets used for analysis were those 

submitted to ISIS that were no more 

than two years out of date. The 

“EAZA.fed” file in SPARKS was used 

as a filter to include only individuals 

in EAZA institutions in the analysis. 

This approach tells us what can be 

achieved with only the individuals in 

EAZA member institutions. 

Those studbooks/programmes that 

manage their species at the subspecies 

level were analysed at subspecies 

level. Hybrids were eliminated from 

the analysis. Species or subspecies 

that we knew (e.g. from Regional Collection 

Plans [RCPs]) were no longer 

recommended to be kept in EAZA 

institutions were also omitted. 

The degree of self-sustainability of 

the populations was assessed based 

on five criteria. For each population, 

a score card was completed showing 

how many of the self-sustainability 

criteria it failed (Fig. 1): 

• Does the population have less than 

50 total individuals? Populations 

with very low numbers of animals 

have a high probability of going 

extinct purely due to random demographic 

events and catastrophes. 

Therefore, even without taking 

genetics into account (which would 

obviously add to the threat), populations 

with less than 50 individuals 

have a high probability of extinction. 

• Is the proportion of breeding 

individuals of the total population 

lower than 25%? The ratio of the 

effective population size (N e ) to 

the true population size (N) is an 

important indicator of the genetic 

and demographic health of a population. 

It indicates how “effective” 

the true population size can be in 

terms of preserving the population. 

For example, you might have 500 individuals 

right now, but if for some 

reason only five of those can breed, 

Fig. 1 

The Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) was among the bird and mammal species that 

did not score on any of the five criteria, implicating that the population is self-sustainable 

according to the parameters set in this study. 

© Jolirwan bin Takasi 

the effective size of the population 

would be much smaller and the 

situation would be much less secure 

than the total population size would 

lead you to believe. Important factors 

influencing the effective size 

of a population are the number of 

breeding animals, sex ratio, family 

sizes and fluctuations in population 

size. Because reliable calculations of 

N e created problems for studbooks 

with a high proportion of the pedigree 

unknown (which was the case 

for a large proportion of pedigrees), 

we used the number of breeding 

animals in the population as a crude 

alternative for N e . 


• Is the PM2000 lambda smaller than 

1? In other words, is the growth rate 

(i.e. lambda) lower than the replacement 

rate, or does the population 

have a declining projected growth 

rate based on the age-specific birth 

and mortality rates? 

• Is less than 85% pedigree known? If 

less than 85% of the overall population’s 

pedigree is known, the genetic 

calculations are unreliable and it is 

not possible to draw conclusions 

about the genetic status of the population. 

Even if the studbook keeper 

or EEP coordinator is somehow able 

to improve knowledge about the

WAZA magazine Vol 12/2011 EAZA Sustainability 13 

pedigree, this would not necessarily 

result in a higher percentage of 

gene diversity retained. If the unknown 

portions of the pedigree turn 

out to be related to already wellrepresented 

founder lines, gene 

diversity might even decrease. 

• Does the population contain less 

than 30 known founders? We stated 

above that the current “default” 

criterion of genetic self-sustainability 

for captive populations is the 

ability to maintain 90% of the gene 

diversity of the wild population 

in the captive population for 100 

years without new founder imports. 

However, since many pedigrees are 

more than 15% unknown, a reliable 

number for gene diversity retained 

could not be calculated (see criterion 

4). For that reason, we decided 

to use the number of founders in 

the known part of the pedigree as 

an alternative criterion for genetic 

sustainability. 

Sampling and genetic theory indicates 

that 20 unrelated wild individuals 

are sufficient to capture 97.5% of 

the gene diversity of the wild population 

within the founder population 

(Crow & Kimura 1970; De Boer 1989; 

Lacy 1994; Frankham et al. 2002). In 

practice, however, contributions of 

founders to the living descendant 

population are uneven and many 

founders may have only marginally 

contributed to the genetics of the 

living descendant population. For 

that reason, quite a few more than 

20 founders are often necessary. The 

cut-off point was set at 30 founders 

because most EEPs and ESBs that 

had more than 85% pedigree known 

and that could maintain 90% of gene 

diversity for 100 years had at least 30 

founders (and many had more than 

that). 

In order to calculate the score card 

criteria, an MS Excel spread sheet 

was created to hold various parameters 

for all the bird and mammal 

studbooks. 

Table 1. 

Sustainability summary score card for EAZA bird 

and mammal EEP and ESB populations. 

Criterion Birds Mammals 

(1) Population of less than 50 living individuals 36% 28% 

(2) Proportion of individuals breeding lower than 25% 73% 25% 

(3) PM2000 growth rate lower than 1 (i.e. decline) 37% 16% 

(4) Less than 85% of pedigree known 78% 52% 

(5) Less than 30 founders 94% 85% 

Results 

The average bird studbook has the 

following characteristics: 

• 90 living individuals at 

25 institutions in ten countries; 

• 40 living females; 

• less than 50% of the pedigree 

can be traced; 

• 21% 30-day mortality, 

32% first-year mortality; 

• 20% of the population is breeding. 

The average mammal studbook has 

the following characteristics: 

• 128 living individuals 

at 27 institutions; 

• 69 living females, 55 living males, 

four unknown sex individuals; 

• 67% of the pedigree can be traced; 

• 28% 30-day mortality, 

36% first-year mortality; 

• 31% of the population is breeding. 

In Table 1, the scores for each of the 

five self-sustainability criteria are 

presented for the bird and mammal 

populations. From the table, it 

can, for example, be concluded that 

36% of the EAZA bird EEP and ESB 

populations have less than 50 living 

individuals. Or that 52% of the EAZA 

mammal EEP and ESB populations 

have less than 85% known pedigrees. 

Overall, 75% of bird programmes and 

30% of mammal programmes fail on 

three or more criteria. 

Conclusions 

Although the results of the mammal 

populations are overall somewhat 

better than those of the bird populations, 

there is still plenty of room and 

serious need for improvement. A high 

proportion of populations fail two or 

more criteria and many programmes 

that fail a certain criterion, fail it by 

a relatively large margin. In addition, 

we are uncertain of the status of the 

non-managed bird and mammal taxa, 

but it seems likely that the majority of 

these populations are in worse shape 

than the EEP and ESB populations. 

Such a rapid standardised assessment 

of a large number of populations 

has of course some limitations. For 

example: 

• Some species may in reality be 

managed at world level, whereby 

this larger population has to be selfsustainable, 

not the EAZA population 

by itself. 

• Some species-specific characteristics 

cause some of the cut-off 

points used to be unsuitable for the 

species. For example, species with 

longer generation times may be 

able to be genetically self-sustainable 

with fewer founders, while species 

with shorter generation times 

might need more. 

»

14 

» 

EAZA Sustainability 

• The standardised time period analysed 

may miss important events in 

a certain population’s history. For 

example, a population analysed 

from 1980 until the current date 

may show a high growth rate for 

most of that period, but then a rapid 

decrease. The PM2000 growth rate 

obtained from a life table based 

on that overall time span may 

reflect a positive or stable projected 

growth rate, whereas in reality the 

population is currently declining and 

vice versa. 

• As with any kind of cut-off point employed, 

some species may just miss 

the cut-off, which may in reality not 

be significant in terms of sustainability. 

• Taxon Advisory Groups (TAGs) may 

have decided that some populations 

do not need to be self-sustainable 

according to the criteria used for 

this analysis, for example because 

they are willing to accept the 

increased risk of extinction (the 

populations may in some ways be 

less important), because further imports 

from the wild are still possible 

(logistically, ethically, legally) or because 

the population represents the 

last individuals in the world and no 

additional genetic material exists. 

Nevertheless, the scale of the 

problem suggests that the overall 

conclusions regarding the general 

level of self-sustainability of bird and 

mammal programmes will be little 

influenced by a few programmes 

shifting position on a few criteria. 

Apart from the realisation that many 

of EAZA’s managed programmes for 

birds and mammals are by and large 

not self-sustainable, this analysis has 

led to another important realisation. 

To be able to truly decide whether or 

not EAZA’s breeding programmes are 

successful, we should not be measur- 

ing whether each population is selfsustainable, 

but whether each population 

is achieving its specific goals as 

outlined by the TAG in the RCP. Only 

when it is clear what role each captive 

population should play, and what 

targets it needs to achieve to fulfil 

that role, can each programme be 

measured against those targets and 

can the level of management necessary 

to reach those targets be defined. 

This then leads to the realisation that 

we lack a sufficiently sound basis for 

setting priorities and determining 

roles and targets in the RCPs. It is at 

present not clear: 

• Which species would benefit from 

ex situ populations as part of their 

conservation strategy, and how to 

decide that in a standardised and 

transparent way. 

• How this decision-making process 

may vary depending on whether or 

not the species is threatened (and 

to what extent), whether or not the 

species is already in captivity, how 

feasible success is and what resources 

it would take, etc. 

• How the priorities for conservation 

and for other zoo roles (e.g. education, 

entertainment, research) 

should be balanced. 

In collaboration with other regional 

zoo associations, WAZA, the Conservation 

Breeding Specialist Group 

(CBSG) of the Species Survival Commission 

(SSC) of the International 

Union for Conservation of Nature 

(IUCN), other IUCN/SSC Specialist 

Groups, ISIS and other conservation 

organisations, EAZA is therefore 

playing an active role in the various 

initiatives that are currently underway 

to create the necessary methods, 

tools and paradigm shifts to ensure 

that we increase our contribution to 

conservation through the intensive 

management of populations, and 

achieve more secure long-term populations 

for our collections. 


We would like to thank all bird and 

mammal EEP coordinators and ESB 

keepers for their cooperation and 

their hard work in keeping their datasets 

accurate and up-to-date. 

References 


• Crow, J. F. & Kimura, M. (1970) 

An Introduction to Population 

Genetics Theory. New York, NY: 

Harper and Row. 

• De Boer, L. E. M. (1989) Genetics 

and Breeding Programmes – 

Genetic Guidelines and their 

Background for EEP Coordinators. 

Amsterdam: National Foundation 

for Research in Zoological 

Gardens. 





Press. 

• Lacy, R. C. (1994) Managing genetic 

diversity in captive populations 

of animals. In: Restoration 

of Endangered Species (ed. by 

Bowles, M. L. & Whelan, C. J.), pp. 

63–89. Cambridge: Cambridge 

University Press.


Sarah Long 1 *, Candice Dorsey 2 & Paul Boyle 2 

Status of Association of Zoos 

and Aquariums Cooperatively 

Managed Populations 

Introduction 

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums 

(AZA) is one of the many zoo 

associations worldwide that is 

undergoing a renewed focus on the 

sustainability of its managed populations. 

Sustainability is generally 

characterised by population biologists 

as the ability of a population to 

maintain a stable size and healthy 

age structure through reproduction 

(if self-sustaining) or other means 

(importation from private facilities, 

other regions or the wild). Genetic 

diversity is often measured as a component 

of population viability, as 

genetically diverse populations are 

likely to be more resilient in adapting 

to environmental change and avoiding 

the negative effects of inbreeding 

depression (Frankham et al. 2002). 

Maintaining both demographic 

stability and gene diversity have long 

been part of cooperatively managed 

programmes in zoos and aquariums, 

including AZA’s Species Survival Plan® 

(SSP) and Population Management 

Plan (PMP) programmes. Here, we 

present an examination of the current 

demographic and genetic status of 

AZA cooperatively managed Animal 

Programmes and an assessment of 

key indicators of the viability of these 

populations. 

1 Population Management Center, 

Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL, USA 

2 Association of Zoos and Aquariums, 

Silver Spring, MD, USA 


slong@lpzoo.org 

As in other regions, population management 

in AZA depends upon a network 

of volunteer studbook keepers 

and species coordinators to collect, 

compile and validate pedigrees and 

life histories (birth/hatch dates and 

locations, transfer events, death 

dates and locations) for each individual 

of a cooperatively managed population 

and to coordinate animal and 

institutional needs with population 

goals. AZA is unique among regional 

zoo associations in having a staff of 

full-time professional population 

biologists assisting its cooperatively 

managed programmes. The AZA Population 

Management Center (PMC) 

based at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, 

IL provides a bridge between studbook 

data and the management plan 

by helping to improve data quality, 

conducting demographic and genetic 

analyses and integrating institutional 

needs and husbandry information 

into breeding and transfer recommendations. 

The transformation of 

studbook data into management 

plans is an essential step in population 

management, without which cooperative 

efforts towards population 

stability and genetic management 

are likely to falter. Since its inception 

in 2000, the PMC has provided 

scientific and logistical support to 

approximately 60% of AZA’s Animal 

Programmes, producing more than 

800 management plans for over 300 

populations. Some of the remaining 

populations are assisted by a small 

number of volunteer advisors, but 

over 150 AZA Animal Programmes 

have yet to receive any formal population 

management advice because 

they are newly designated, awaiting 

assistance from a population biologist, 

or lack a studbook database or 

a species coordinator. 

Despite all the organisational, institutional 

and scientific resources 

dedicated to these cooperatively 

managed programmes, AZA populations 

are facing challenges similar 

to zoo populations in other regions – 

limited space for expansion, loss of 

gene diversity, declining population 

sizes, incomplete data with which 

to manage the populations – all of 

which may threaten the ability of 

AZA-accredited zoos to meet their 

exhibit, education or conservation 

goals with these species. In an attempt 

to characterise the viability 

of AZA-managed populations, basic 

descriptive information was gathered 

from studbooks and management 

plans for 428 populations and results 

of demographic and genetic analyses 

conducted by the PMC have been 

summarised for 319 populations. Of 

particular interest are measures that 

provide insight into genetic and demographic 

health, such as founding 

population size, current population 

size, proportion of animals breeding 

and recent population growth rates. 

15 

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16 AZA Sustainability 


» 

Genetic Status of 

AZA Populations 

Genetic analyses provide estimates 

of a population’s gene diversity, 

which is an indicator of its adaptive 

potential. Estimates of gene diversity 

require pedigrees of living animals 

tracing back to the wild founders, and 

therefore only reasonably complete 

pedigrees should be trusted for accurate 

genetic calculations. For some 

populations with incomplete pedigrees, 

the best efforts are made to 

develop, in coordination with species 

experts, reasonable assumptions 

regarding number of founders and 

likely relatedness among unknown 

pedigreed animals. 

Of the populations with reasonably 

complete pedigrees for which genetic 

calculations could be conducted (264), 

the median number of founders is 

15, below the minimum 20 founders 

generally recommended to provide 

a good foundation of gene diversity 

(Soulé et al. 1986). Gene diversity 

estimates indicate a median of approximately 

92% for these populations 

as of the most recent analysis 

date, and falling to 67% in 100 years. 

Approximately 38% of AZA populations 

have a current gene diversity 

that falls below the 90% benchmark 

selected to represent the threshold 

between sufficient adaptive potential 

and increasing inbreeding risks (Soulé 

et al. 1986). While genetic diversity is 

often utilised to describe the health 

of a population, demographic factors 

are more often the cause of immediate 

and obvious struggles for population 

viability, and act synergistically 

to either improve or further decrease 

a population’s genetic outlook. 

Demographic Status of 

AZA Populations 

The most basic demographic descriptor 

is population size. The median 

population size of the 428 AZA Animal 

Programmes with studbooks or 

published breeding and transfer plans 

is 66 individuals (Fig. 1). Across species, 

approximately 39% of populations 

are comprised of 50 or fewer 

individuals. Populations of this small 

size are more vulnerable to variations 

in birth/hatch rates, death rates 

and birth/hatch sex ratios (Lande 

1988), and can more rapidly lose gene 

diversity and encounter effects of 

inbreeding depression (Frankham et 

al. 2002). In addition, non-biological 

constraints caused by logistical factors 

or lack of cooperation among 

participating zoos can easily further 

impede the success of populations as 

small as these. 

The sustainability of closed populations 

(i.e. those without access 

to additional founders) is heavily 

dependent on reproduction. The 

proportion of animals breeding in 

a population reflects the husbandry 

expertise, breeding success and 

intensity of management focused 

on a species. While these factors are 

correlated with the demographic 

health of a population, the proportion 

of animals breeding is also indicative 

of the efficiency at which gene 

diversity is retained over time. As 

more individuals breed, their cumulative 

genetic contributions are passed 

on to the next generation, thereby 

allowing the population to better 

retain gene diversity over time. This 

genetic and demographic metric can 

be estimated by calculating the ratio 

of the number of males and females 

with living offspring in the population 

(N e , effective population size) to the 

total population size (N). Ratios of 

N e /N may be constrained by breeding 

sex ratios or family sizes (e.g. lower 

in populations with polygamous 

breeding systems or large groups 

with many non-breeding individuals) 

Fig. 1 

Distribution of population sizes of mammal, bird and reptile/amphibian (“herp”) 

programmes cooperatively managed by AZA (N = 428).


or be temporarily exaggerated in very 

small populations with large numbers 

of animals breeding. Species with 

longer reproductive spans, faster 

growth rates, monogamous breeding 

systems or fewer limitations on 

producing or holding offspring will be 

able to achieve higher effective sizes 

and therefore achieve better gene 

retention. 

In 255 AZA populations for which 

effective population size ratios (N e /N) 

could be calculated, values varied 

widely from 0.0 to 0.62 but exhibited 

a median of 0.25; in other words, successful 

breeders commonly comprise 

around 25% of AZA-managed populations. 

Trends among taxonomic 

groups appear to reflect the previously 

mentioned biological and management 

differences, with mammal 

populations exhibiting slightly higher 

effective population sizes (median 

N e /N = 0.28, N = 138) and reptiles and 

amphibians exhibiting lower effective 

population sizes (median N e /N = 0.12, 

N = 34); avian populations show intermediate 

effective population sizes 

(median N e /N = 0.24, N = 93). 

The population growth rate, or 

change in population size from one 

year to the next, is another important 

indicator of the demographic 

health of a population. Depending 

on population goals and available 

space, either a stable (approximately 

0%) or an increasing growth rate is 

desirable for population viability. In 

closed populations, the population 

size is maintained or increased solely 

through reproduction. In open populations, 

animals may be brought in 

from private facilities, other regions 

or the wild to continue to maintain 

the population size and offset deaths. 

In an examination of recent growth 

rates (rates for the five years prior 

to the most recent PMC planning 

analyses) of 289 AZA cooperatively 

managed populations, approximately 

40% were decreasing, 15% were stable 

and more than 44% were increasing 

in population size (Fig. 2). Among 

taxonomic groups, birds and reptiles/ 

amphibians have slightly lower proportions 

of decreasing populations 

(34% and 35%, respectively) than 

mammals (45%). 

Fig. 2 

Distribution of recent population growth rates (five years prior to analysis date) 

for mammal, bird and reptile/amphibian (“herp”) programmes cooperatively 

managed by AZA and analysed by the PMC (N = 289). 

AZA Sustainability 

Improving the Status 

of AZA Populations 

Characterising the current demographic 

and genetic health of managed 

populations is a transparent 

and common way to assess whether 

cooperatively managed programmes 

are effective. However, there has 

been little examination of the process 

by which our populations are 

managed – through breeding and 

transfer recommendations. In the 

coming year, AZA will begin to use an 

Internet-based system developed at 

Lincoln Park Zoo called PMCTrack to 

measure the effectiveness of Animal 

Programmes by tracking and quantifying 

the outcomes of breeding and 

transfer recommendations distributed 

by SSP programmes. By tracking 

outcomes and surveying institutional 

representatives to determine the 

reasons surrounding why breeding 

and transfer recommendations were 

not fulfilled, this system may reveal 

factors correlated with successfully 

managed populations. Eventually, 

this information should provide 

insight into improving the process of 

managing populations and ultimately, 

improving the viability of zoo populations 

themselves. 

While the management and husbandry 

issues that foster or hinder population 

viability may not be entirely clear, 

the basic demographic and genetic 

factors that contribute to healthy 

populations have been well studied 

and are strongly correlated with 

space. Assuming that populations 

with reasonable founder bases and 

effective sizes need to grow to least 

150–200 individuals to remain healthy 

(Soulé et al. 1986), there is simply not 

enough space to keep viable populations 

of all species currently managed 

in zoos. Exhibits have become larger 

and provide space for fewer individuals, 

and interest in particular species 

varies over time. Multiple species 

within a taxonomic group (e.g. old 

world monkeys, bears, ungulates) 

and across taxonomic groups (e.g. 

canids, felids) often compete for the 

same space. While managers wait for 

17 

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18 AZA Sustainability 


» 

additional facilities and resources, the 

age structures of these populations 

become destabilised as breeding is 

decreased and individuals age and 

become reproductively senescent. 

Rather than being left to chance 

or whim, a prioritisation system is 

desperately needed to select the 

species that zoos find most important 

for achieving their missions (e.g. 

conservation efforts, education goals, 

exhibit needs) and to phase out the 

species that are not serving a role valued 

by the majority of zoos. The zoo 

community should critically examine 

cooperatively managed populations 

and other species held in zoos, clarify 

the roles of these populations, define 

specific goals and outline realistic objectives 

required for the populations 

to meet those goals. Regional Collection 

Plans (RCPs) have been used in 

multiple zoo regions to recommend 

and prioritise cooperatively managed 

species, typically organised at the 

level of taxonomic orders. However, 

it may be more useful to examine 

species outside of taxonomic groupings 

and with an eye towards functional 

categories (e.g. exhibit needs, 

behavioural requirements, education 

messaging), as space at modern zoos 

is often fluid with the same exhibit 

being capable of housing different 

species across multiple orders. 

Although quantifying the space available 

to hold species is notoriously difficult, 

space assessments and interest 

need to be part of any prioritisation 

scheme so that realistic goals can 

be set. RCPs and other such species 

prioritisation schemes may then 

consider many factors including, but 

not limited to, the number of holding 

institutions, exhibit and education 

value, conservation status, husbandry 

expertise and success, costs and 

a connection to in situ conservation 

programmes. 

In addition to better management 

tools and metrics to assess and prioritise 

populations, greater attention to 

removing barriers to global cooperation 

is needed. In particular, as the 

scientific community recognises the 

vital role of zoos in protecting biodiversity 

(Conde et al. 2011), it is crucial 

that governments and regulators 

recognise the importance of moving 

animals and gametes for building 

sustainable zoological populations 

and respond with more favourable 

permitting processes if our potential 

is to be fully realised. 

While this summary of the status of 

AZA Animal Programmes may highlight 

the demographic and genetic 

challenges that these populations 

face, it may also serve to illustrate the 

biases of human perception and the 

tendency to nostalgically view the 

past in an unrealistic positive light. 

For most of the demographic and 

genetic indicators discussed, there 

are as many populations doing well as 

there are doing poorly. It may be that 

what is currently being observed is 

a natural waxing and waning of species 

based on existing conditions (e.g. 

space, interest, availability). Species 

that were once common and familiar 

in zoos of a prior generation may no 

longer be suitable or sustainable in 

modern zoos that are facing increasing 

barriers to importing animals 

from other regions and are building 

larger, more naturalistic, mixedspecies 

exhibits that provide space for 

fewer individuals. As exhibits increase 

in size to meet animal welfare and 

exhibit needs, the number of species 

that zoos can maintain at a sustainable 

population size decreases. If we 

try to come to terms with the realities 

of modern zoos and continue to examine 

the reasons for both successes 

and failures, we will find that many 

species thrive in these conditions. 

By shifting management priorities 

in response to these variables, we 

may find that we can tip the balance 

towards creating sustainable zoo 

populations for generations to come. 

References 

• Conde, D. A., Flesness, N., Colchero, 

F., Jones, O. R. & Scheuerlein, 

A. (2011) An emerging role 

of zoos to conserve biodiversity. 

Science 331: 1390–1391. 





Press. 

• Lacy, R. C. (1997) Importance of 

genetic variation to the viability 

of mammalian populations. Journal 

of Mammalogy 78: 320–335. 

• Lande, R. (1988) Genetics and 

demography in biological conservation. 

Science 241: 1455–1460. 

• Soulé, M., Gilpin, M., Conway, W. 

& Foose, T. (1986): The millennium 

ark: how long a voyage, 

how many staterooms, how 

many passengers? Zoo Biology 5: 

101–113.


Jonathan D. Ballou 1 * & Kathy Traylor-Holzer 2 

Captive Populations 

and Genetic Sustainability 

Introduction 

Conservation biologists have long 

been interested in the questions of 

population viability and sustainability. 

The concept of Minimum Viable 

Population (MVP) size was first developed 

to answer the question of how 

large a population needs to be to survive. 

Quantitatively, MVP is usually 

expressed as: “How large does this 

population need to be to have 95% 

(or some similar percentage) chance 

of surviving for 100 years (or some 

moderately extended timeframe)?” 

Computer modelling (population viability 

analysis [PVA]) is typically used 

to answer this question, the reliability 

of which critically depends on the 

amount of detailed data available for 

the population. PVA has now become 

a standard tool for use in wildlife 

conservation. 

1 Smithsonian Conservation 

Biology Institute, 

Washington, DC, USA 

2 IUCN/SSC Conservation 

Breeding Specialist Group, 

Apple Valley, MN, USA 


ballouj@si.edu 

Soon after the development of 

organised captive breeding programmes 

in the early 1980s (e.g. 

the European Endangered Species 

Programme [EEP] of the European 


[EAZA] and the Species Survival 

Plan [SSP] of the Association of 

Zoos and Aquariums [AZA] in North 

America), zoo biologists also began 

wondering about MVPs for captive 

populations. How large should our 

captive populations be? We asked 

a number of prominent conservation, 

wildlife and zoo biologists to address 

this question at a workshop hosted 

by the Smithsonian National Zoo’s 

Conservation and Research Center 

in 1986. Their recommendation was: 

large enough to maintain 90% of the 

source population’s genetic diversity 

for 200 years (Soulé et al. 1986). The 

authors clearly recognised that these 

metrics were somewhat arbitrary, 

but nevertheless felt that they were 

in the right ballpark. Ninety percent 

because this represents “the zone 

between a potentially damaging and 

a tolerable loss of heterozygosity”. 

Potentially damaging because a loss 

of 10% of the genetic diversity is 

roughly equivalent to an increase in 

the average inbreeding coefficient in 

the population of 10% and approaches 

the level at which individuals are as 

related as half siblings, and we know 

that inbreeding decreases the health 

of populations (Frankham et al. 2010). 

200 years because it “is a reasonably 

conservative temporal horizon… 

A longer time ignores the exponential 

rate of progress in biological technology”. 

The reference to biotechnology 

being the benefits of realised 

and expected future advances in the 

science of storing and regenerating 

embryonic cells, and hence a lesser 

need for living captive populations to 

act as genetic reservoirs for threatened 

species. The authors allowed 

for disagreement with these metrics 

and proposed them as a first step in 

the process of determining MVPs 

for captive populations. Additionally, 

while the metrics are genetic, it was 

assumed that genetic criteria for viability 

would be stricter than demographic 

criteria, and any population 

that satisfies the genetic goals would 

very likely satisfy any demographic 

goals as well (such as those above for 

MVPs). 

19 

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20 Genetics 


» 

Size of Captive 

Populations 

So, how large do populations need 

to be to meet the “90%/200 Year” 

goal? It turns out they need to be 

pretty large. The size depends on 

the generation length of the species 

(the shorter the generation 

length, the larger the size required), 

number of founders (fewer founders 

require a larger population size), how 

rapidly the population can grow (slow 

growth requires a larger size) and 

how well the population has been 

and will be managed (the less intensively, 

the larger the size required). 

For example, to meet this goal the 

golden lion tamarin (Leontopithecus 

rosalia) population (generation length 

of six years, population growth rate 

potentially 8% per year, 47 founders – 

which is an unusually large number 

of founders) would need to grow to 

and maintain over 850 individuals. 

A species with similar characteristics 

except with a generation length of 

three years would require over 1,800 

individuals (Fig. 1). This is one of the 

rare cases in conservation where species 

with longer generation lengths 

have an advantage; since gene 

diversity is potentially lost during 

reproduction with each generation, 

species with longer generation times 

will experience fewer generations 

and therefore less genetic loss over 

the same time period. These required 

population sizes are quite large given 

the number of species that rely on 

conservation breeding as a core part 

of their conservation planning. Given 

the limited resources of zoos, managing 

larger populations means conserving 

fewer species, leading to hard 

decisions regarding which species to 

conserve and which to abandon. 

It was for this reason that in the 

mid-1990s, AZA modified their recommended 

goals to retain 90% of the 

source population’s gene diversity 

for only 100 years. There simply was 

not enough space for enough species 

to meet the 200-year criterion, thus 

Fig. 1 

Population size required to maintain 90% of genetic diversity for 200 years. Species like the 

golden lion tamarin (generation length of six years) requires about 850 individuals; 

a species with similar characteristics, but a three-year generation length, 

would require about 1,800 individuals. 

Fig. 2 

Population size required to maintain 90% of genetic diversity for 100 years for different 

species (modified from Frankham et al. 2010). Population sizes for species with very 

short generation lengths (e.g. amphibians) may require extremely large 

population sizes to meet this goal. 

sustainability goals were relaxed. 

This revision makes a substantial 

difference. In the golden lion tamarin 

example above, meeting the 100-year 

goal “only” requires a population of 

about 420 rather than 850 individuals. 

Fig. 2 shows the approximate popula- 

tion sizes needed for species of different 

generation lengths (making some 

simplifying assumptions).


The revised “90%/100 Year” goal is 

now used regularly for population 

planning in conservation breeding 

programmes, although a majority of 

the officially recognised programmes 

do not have sufficient space to meet 

even this objective (Baker 2007; Lees 

& Wilcken 2009). Nevertheless, it is 

typically accepted as the standard towards 

which programmes strive. For 

example, AZA has even recently used 

it as a primary criterion upon which to 

base their new categorisation of their 

breeding programmes (e.g. “green” 

programmes are those that appear to 

be able to reach that goal). Thus, the 

goal of “90% for 100 Years” arguably 

seems to have become an operational 

definition of sustainability for 

captive populations. 

Genetic Sustainability 

of Captive Populations 

But is “90%/100 Year” really a sustainability 

goal? As Robert Lacy 

reminded us at a recent workshop 

on Intensively Managed Populations 

for Conservation in San Diego in 

December 2010, no, it is not. In fact, 

it is the opposite. Accepting a 10% 

loss and setting a timeframe of 100 

years are both counter to the concept 

of sustainability. Depending on the 

source, sustainable is defined as being 

able to be maintained at a certain 

rate or level or by avoiding depletion 

of a resource. Tolerating a 10% loss 

in the gene pool per century is hardly 

sustainable. And what happens in 

the year 2111, 100 years from now? 

Can we count on the technology to 

which Soulé et al. (1986) referred to 

be in place? Advances have not been 

as rapid as had been predicted. Thus, 

the “90%/100 Year” goal is certainly 

not a sustainability goal, but rather 

a goal that specifically allows for loss, 

acknowledging depletion. 

If the “90%/100 Year” goal is not a genetically 

sustainable goal, then what 

is? Conservation geneticists have 

debated this extensively (Frankham 

et al. 2010). With sustainability being 

defined as maintaining a population 

large enough so that genetic diversity 

is not depleted, then the population 

has to be large enough so that the 

rate of loss of gene diversity due to 

genetic drift (i.e. the random process 

of passing genes from parents to 

offspring, causing changes in gene 

frequencies between generations) is 

offset by the rate of increase in genetic 

diversity, added via mutations 

(the ultimate source of all genetic 

variation). Since mutation rates are 

very low (e.g. 10 -4 to 10 -5 per locus 

per generation for microsatellite 

loci; Frankham et al. 2010), the rate 

of loss due to genetic drift has to be 

correspondingly very low. And since 

genetic drift is inversely proportional 

to population size, the population 

sizes have to be very large. 

In genetics, population size is best 

expressed as an effective population 

size (N e ), defined as the number of 

individuals in an ideal population that 

loses genetic diversity at the same 

rate as the real population. An ideal 

population is a theoretical population 

that breeds randomly, and all animals 

can breed with each other and with 

themselves. It is a useful concept because 

we can accurately predict, using 

population genetics theory, how 

the genes in an ideal population will 

behave under varying conditions. To 

understand the genetics of real populations, 

we compare them to ideal 

populations. For example, if a population 

of 200 wombats loses genetic 

diversity at the same rate as an ideal 

population of size 52, then we say the 

effective size of the wombat population 

is 52. The wombat population 

is behaving like an ideal population 

of 52. So it is a population’s effective 

size that determines how it behaves 

genetically, not its actual census size. 

How N e is calculated is beyond the 

scope of this article, but N e can be estimated 

for most captive populations. 

Of particular interest is the ratio of 

a population’s effective size and its 

census size (N e /N), which allows one 

to calculate a population’s census size 

given its effective size, and vice versa. 

Genetics 

To return to the question of how 

large populations need to be to be 

genetically sustainable (i.e. suffer no 

loss of genetic diversity), the answer 

appears to be between N e of 500 and 

5,000 (Frankham et al. 2010). This is 

regardless of whether the population 

is in the wild or captivity. What does 

depend on whether the population is 

wild or captive is how its effective size 

translates into its census size. Wild 

populations are typically not managed 

genetically, have uneven sex ratios, 

fluctuate in size and have some 

breeders that produce more offspring 

than others, all of which decrease 

a population’s effective size. Estimates 

of effective sizes in wild populations 

are on the order of 10% of 

census size (N e /N = 0.11; Frankham et 

al. 2010). Thus, genetically sustainable 

wild populations need to be about 

ten times the effective size, or 5,000 

to 50,000 individuals. What about 

captive populations? Although no extensive 

surveys have been conducted, 

population management plans typically 

report N e /N as being between 

0.25 and 0.30 – much higher than wild 

populations, primarily because captive 

populations do not fluctuate in 

size as much as wild populations and, 

presumably, because of population 

management. Thus, to be genetically 

sustainable, captive populations need 

to be on the order of 1,700 to 20,000 

animals. Clearly this is not an option 

for the vast majority of species under 

conservation breeding and may be 

only possible for invertebrates and 

small vertebrates that can be housed 

en masse in breeding centres. Our 

captive facilities simply do not have 

the capacity to maintain genetically 

self-sustaining populations. For that 

matter, neither do many if not most 

wildlife reserves. 

21 

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22 Genetics 


» 

Possible Ways Forward 

How do we deal with this challenge? 

We need to recognise that conservation 

breeding alone cannot maintain 

genetically sustainable populations, 

and we should not claim that it can. 

This includes recognising that the 

goal of “90%/100 Years” is not a goal 

for sustainability, but a goal that 

explicitly recognises our lack of ability 

to maintain genetically sustainable 

populations. It means that we will be 

challenged with genetic deterioration 

in captive populations in the form 

of accumulating inbreeding depression 

and adaptation to captivity, the 

former impacting the health and 

welfare of our populations and the 

latter impacting the utility of these 

populations for future conservation 

rescue efforts. These are not new 

concerns, but they are concerns that 

will not dissipate even if we were to 

achieve the goal of “90%/100 Years”. 

Although these genetic threats will 

not necessarily lead to population 

extinction, accumulation of enough 

inbreeding significantly increases the 

chances of this (Frankham et al. 2010). 

Given this, we need to do a better 

job at conservation breeding. If zoos, 

aquariums and related facilities are 

to be seen as legitimate contributors 

to species conservation, we need 

a more successful conservation 

breeding model or paradigm. We 

need to expand the size and scope 

of our populations by managing 

multiple, interacting populations. 

Conway (2011) calls for sharper focus 

of these efforts, including managing 

our captive populations mutually with 

wild populations. Captive populations 

should be managed globally when 

possible, not as isolated regional 

populations. Integrated management 

of multiple populations will increase 

census (and therefore effective) 

population size and potentially provide 

increased genetic diversity, as 

compared to smaller, isolated populations. 

We also need to manage our 

populations more effectively for conservation 

– compliance with population 

management recommendations 

is not what it should be. The current 

paradigm of managing a fragmented 

captive population among multiple 

facilities, each one holding only 

a breeding pair, is not working (Baker 

2007; Lees & Wilcken 2009; Conway 

2011). We have it backwards. Rather 

than designing conservation breeding 

programmes to meet our public 

exhibit zoo-centric infrastructures, as 

we do now, we instead need to design 

the facilities to meet the goals of 

our conservation programmes. This 

was done for the black-footed ferret 

(Mustela nigripes) conservation breeding 

programme with the dedicated 

breeding centre at Sybille, WY, and 

there are plans to use similar breeding 

centres for cheetahs (Acinonyx 

jubatus) by the Conservation Centers 

for Species Survival (C2S2), a consortium 

of North American zoos with 

large land holdings. 

Ultimately, we need a shift in thinking 

– a refocusing and recommitment 

by zoos to serve as effective conservation 

centres for the world’s threatened 

wildlife species. The past year 

has seen a series of workshops that 

have begun to raise these issues, and 

many are poised to begin tackling 

these challenges we face. Let’s hope 

the momentum continues. 

References 

• Baker, A. (2007) Animal ambassadors: 

an analysis of the effectiveness 

and conservation impact of 

ex situ breeding efforts. In: Zoos 

in the 21st Century: Catalysts for 

Conservation? (ed. by Zimmermann, 

A., Hatchwell, M., Dickie, 

L. A. & West, C.), pp. 139–154. 

Cambridge: Cambridge University 

Press. 

• Conway, W. G. (2011) Buying 

time for wild animals with zoos. 

Zoo Biology 30: 1–8. 



to Conservation Genetics, 2nd ed. 


Press. 






• Soulé, M., Gilpin, M., Conway, W. 

& Foose, T. (1986): The millennium 

ark: how long a voyage, 

how many staterooms, how 

many passengers? Zoo Biology 5: 

101–113.

WAZA magazine Vol 12/2011 23 

Cheryl S. Asa 1 *, Kathy Traylor-Holzer 2 & Robert C. Lacy 2,3 

Mate Choice as a Potential Tool 

to Increase Population Sustainability 

The Sustainability 

Problem 

The sustainability of populations has 

become an important consideration 

for the zoo and aquarium community. 

In their analysis of 87 zoo mammal 

populations, Lees & Wilcken (2009) 

found that 52% were not breeding to 

replacement and that 67% fell below 

the threshold of 200 animals recommended 

by Baker (2007). Conway 

(2011) pointed out that new policies 

and practices in zoo collection management, 

including more specialisation 

and focused propagation efforts, 

are needed if zoos are to fulfil their 

conservation potential. Regional zoo 

associations are examining possible 

reasons for the unsustainability of 

their populations, but one clear factor 

is the failure of many assigned 

pairs to reproduce, often due to pair 

incompatibility. The typical reaction 

is to assign another breeding partner, 

often requiring the transfer of an 

animal to or from another location. 

This dating game may finally result in 

a successful match, but meanwhile 

valuable time and reproductive opportunities 

are lost. 

1 Saint Louis Zoo, 

St. Louis, MO, USA 




3 Chicago Zoological Society, 

Brookfield, IL, USA 


asa@stlzoo.org 

Female Choice and 

Reproductive Success 

In nature, many animals are able to 

choose their mates and the importance 

of female choice (females 

choosing their mates) has been 

documented in many different taxa 

(Asa et al. 2011). The factors affecting 

mate choice are not always apparent, 

but allowing animals to choose 

can increase pregnancy rates, litter 

sizes and offspring survival. There 

are many steps in the reproductive 

process, from courtship through 

rearing young to independence, and 

it appears that mate choice can affect 

most if not all of them. Most obviously, 

compatible pairs are more likely 

to copulate. A female that rejects 

mating attempts from a particular 

male will not conceive unless forced, 

but even when forced, females of at 

least some species can impede or 

prevent reproduction. Best studied 

in birds, females that mate with nonpreferred 

males can eject sperm or 

even influence the ability of sperm to 

fertilise ova. Females of some species 

influence embryo survival and litter 

size by restricting nutrients or differentially 

allocating hormones. Females 

can also withhold parental care 

and affect survival of offspring that 

result from non-preferred matings. 

Enhancing animal wellbeing and 

promotion of natural behaviours are 

goals of modern zoos. Allowing animals 

to select partners can contribute 

to the wellbeing of those individuals 

and better simulates their natural 

mating behaviour, contributing to 

something we sometimes refer to as 

the “happy factor”. Happy females 

(i.e. happy with their partners) are 

more likely to mate, conceive, incubate 

or carry a pregnancy to term and 

more likely to be good parents, also 

improving offspring wellbeing as well 

as survival. 

If mate choice is important to the 

reproductive success of most species, 

then preventing choice could 

be counterproductive to reaching 

programme objectives. The benefits 

from mate choice, for example higher 

birth or hatching rates and higher 

offspring survival plus enhanced 

animal wellbeing, are obvious. Higher 

reproductive success means higher 

probability of sustainability and faster 

growth to the population’s target 

size, which helps to slow the loss of 

genetic diversity. Allowing animals to 

exhibit natural reproductive behaviours 

also reduces the unintentional 

selection for traits that are adaptive 

to certain captive environments, but 

not adaptive to more natural environments 

for the species. 

Mate Choice and 

Population Genetics 

However, allowing mate choice is 

not without risk and may undermine 

genetic goals if animals choose mates 

that are genetically over-represented 

in the population (Asa et al. 2011). 

Numerous studies have shown that 

females make good genetic mate 

choices in terms of their own individual 

fitness and under the conditions 

in which they are living. Such choices, 

however, may not result in maximum 

retention of genetic diversity in the 

population, balance founder representation 

or avoid loss of adaptations 

to wild environments, which are the 

primary goals of captive breeding 

programmes (Lacy 1994). 

»

24 

» 

Mate Choice 

As many population mangers have 

found, the most genetically valuable 

animals in the population (i.e. the top 

priority animals for breeding) are not 

always the most successful breeders. 

Concentrating breeding efforts on 

such animals can reduce population 

growth and even lead to demographic 

instability and population decline. 

However, ignoring genetic factors 

and concentrating on good breeders 

only can reduce genetic variability 

and long-term population health and 

increase adaptation to captive conditions. 

Allowing mate choice by offering 

multiple genetically acceptable 

mates may be one tool to help balance 

demographic and genetic needs of 

a population and ultimately maintain 

higher levels of genetic diversity by 

increasing reproductive success while 

relaxing the necessity for imposing 

rigid genetic management. 

Integrating 

Mate Choice and 

Genetic Management 

The cues mediating mate preferences 

have not been determined for many 

species, but this need not prevent 

incorporating choice into breeding 

programmes. The simplest approach 

is to provide a female with access to 

several males and observe her reactions. 

Generally, females approach 

and spend more time with or near the 

preferred male; in addition, speciestypical 

behaviours, such as sniffing 

or performing visual displays, may 

be apparent. The female can then 

be paired with that male for breeding. 

To minimise any negative impact 

on population genetics, the several 

males presented to the female could 

be limited to those considered to 

be genetically appropriate potential 

mates, with the hope that merely 

having a choice will be sufficient to 

influence her willingness to mate. It 

is important to note that sequential 

presentation of potential mates is not 

equivalent to allowing choice but is 

actually sequential mate rejection/ 

Fig. 1 

Male cheetah scent marking on urine collector. 

© Regina Mossotti 

Fig. 2 

Female cheetah investigating male scent dispenser with male urine sample. 

© Regina Mossotti 

acceptance. Studies have shown that 

females have highest reproductive 

success when they can assess their 

mate options simultaneously. 

Housing and management constraints 

may limit the number of 

males that can be physically presented 

simultaneously; the feasibility and 

logistics of providing mate options 

also varies greatly among species. 

Assessing choice by substituting 

appropriate cues (proxies) for the 

potential mate himself (e.g. scent) is 

a possible alternative that has been 

successful in animal models ranging 

from mice to humans. For example, 

the preference of a female mouse is 

consistent whether she is presented 

with an assortment of males or their 

urine sample. Thus, rather than transfer 

a potential mate to a new location, 

his urine or other scent sample could 


be sent first to assess the female’s 

reaction before investing the resources, 

time and risk in transferring the 

male. As a first step in assessing the 

practicality of using urine as a proxy 

for the actual male, one of our graduate 

students confirmed that female 

cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) do investigate 

male urine samples and 

can use urine to distinguish between 

males of different genetic relatedness 

(Figs. 1 and 2; Mossotti 2010). 

Managers might also be able to influence 

female choice by manipulating 

cues. Females of some species are 

more likely to mate with familiar 

males, so the scent of a partner that 

would fulfil programme goals could 

be presented before presenting 

the potential mate himself. In other 

species, high rates of scent marking 

stimulate a female, presumably by

WAZA magazine Vol 12/2011 Mate Choice 25 

representing male vigour and territory 

ownership, suggesting another 

approach to influencing choice. In 

some species, dominant males mark 

over scent marks of competitors and 

females prefer the male that marks 

on top. Managers could use this 

strategy to create a “winner” by adding 

scent samples sequentially so that 

scent from the male best for achieving 

population goals is added last. 

Females also can be influenced by 

the behaviour of other females and 

may prefer males that other females 

have chosen. Thus, appropriate social 

groups may facilitate mate acceptance, 

even acceptance of males that 

might not have been selected were 

the females housed individually. 

Given the clear importance of mate 

choice in so many species, we believe 

the zoo community should consider 

incorporating choice in captive 

breeding programmes. This should 

be approached, however, in a careful 

and controlled manner. Not only 

is the phenomenon of mate choice 

very complex, but allowing mate 

choice could be challenging, both 

the logistics of offering choice and 

implementing choice so that it augments 

rather than hinders population 

management goals. 

Recognising the complexity of this 

topic, a Mate Choice Symposium was 

held at Saint Louis Zoo in March 2010, 

where top scientists who study mate 

choice came together with zoo population 

managers, including studbook 

keepers, species coordinators and 

population management advisors. 

After a series of research presentations 

by the scientists summarising 

the mechanisms and consequences of 

mate choice across a wide variety of 

species, taxon-based working groups 

discussed the implications of mate 

choice, opportunities for incorporating 

mate choice in captive management 

and potential research projects 

to investigate these issues. Participants 

identified possible strategies 

for incorporating mate choice into 

our current breeding programmes, 

including: (1) using information on 

mate choice to increase the reproductive 

success of genetically valuable 

animals; (2) providing multiple 

genetically acceptable mates rather 

than a single mate; (3) developing 

methods for assessing mate acceptability 

(via testing of odour or other 

cues) before actual animal transfer; 

and (4) considering alternate breeding 

strategies such as specialised 

breeding centres or inter-institutional 

management that optimises reproductive 

success combined with 

periodic exchange of individuals. 

The results of this symposium along 

with two smaller, related workshops 

led to the identification of three 

proposed research projects that span 

a breadth of taxa, breeding systems 

and captive management to address 

issues related to incorporating mate 

choice into zoo-managed programmes. 

These studies are designed 

to evaluate the effects of allowing 

controlled mate choice within the 

following populations: a multi-zoo 

breeding programme for a highprofile 

species (cheetahs), a single-facility 

breeding centre (tanagers) and 

a controlled experimental population 

(mice). Funding is now being sought 

to support these proposed projects. 

It is hoped that such studies can serve 

as models to help guide the effective 

use of mate choice in zoo populations. 

Allowing choice may improve reproductive 

success and, ultimately, 

programme effectiveness. A better 

understanding of mate choice can 

help population managers reach their 

goals for viable, genetically healthy 

populations, while potentially helping 

minimise selective changes to 

captivity and providing insight into 

developing a more effective breeding 

management strategy for captive 

animal populations. 


We thank Regina Mossotti for use of 

the cheetah images. 

References 

• Asa, C. S., Traylor-Holzer, K. & 

Lacy, R. C. (2011) Can conservation-breeding 

programmes 

be improved by incorporating 

mate choice? International Zoo 

Yearbook 45: 203–212. 








L. A. & West, C.), pp. 139–154. 


Press. 




• Lacy, R. C. (1994) Managing genetic 

diversity in captive populations 

of animals. In: Restoration 

of Endangered Species (ed. by 

Bowles, M. L. & Whelan, C. J.), pp. 

63–89. Cambridge: Cambridge 

University Press. 






• Mossotti, R. H. (2010) Female 

reaction to male urine scents 

as a potential indicator of mate 

choice in captive cheetahs 

(Acinonyx jubatus). MSc thesis, 

Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, 

IL.


Dalia A. Conde 

Zoos Can Lead the Way 

with Ex Situ Conservation 

1 *, Nate Flesness2 , Fernando Colchero1 , Owen R. Jones1 & Alexander Scheuerlein1 Summary 

Zoos can play a key role in the management 

of threatened species that 

require the support of captive breeding 

for their survival. In this sense, it 

is important to have an accounting of 

how many at-risk species are already 

represented in zoos, which can inform 

future prioritisation efforts. We 

used data from ISIS and the IUCN Red 

List of Threatened Species to assess 

the conservation status and population 

size of terrestrial vertebrates in 

ISIS member institutions. Our results 

show that 15% of described species 

classified as threatened are represented 

in ISIS zoos. Zoos already hold 

important populations for certain 

threatened species, especially for 

mammals. However, the number of 

threatened birds and their population 

sizes are much lower, which is 

even more dramatic for amphibians, 

although almost one-quarter of their 

populations are above 250 individuals. 

The implementation of cooperative 

captive breeding programmes across 

large numbers of institutions is one of 

the more demanding actions where 

zoos as a global network could play 

a key role to support the conservation 

of some of the most threatened 

species. 

1 Max Planck Institute for Demographic 

Research, Rostock, Germany 




conde@demogr.mpg.de 

Introduction 

Zoos and aquariums face a major 

task if they are to be effective in 

preventing the extinction of some 

species. Habitat loss, overhunting 

and predation and competition from 

invasive species are some of the 

pressures that are driving species to 

extinction. Moreover, it is expected 

that these pressures will be exacerbated 

by future climate change. As 

a result, although the ultimate goal 

must be conservation in the species’ 

natural habitat, captive breeding 

programmes may be the only shortterm 

solution to avoid the extinction 

of those species whose populations 

are highly threatened. In fact, captive 

breeding played a major role in the recovery 

of 13 of the 68 species that had 

improved their conservation status 

in the last assessment (Hoffmann et 

al. 2010; Conde et al. 2011b). Thus, it 

is clear that while captive breeding is 

not a conservation goal in itself, it can 

be an important conservation tool. 

Zoos can potentially lead the way 

with ex situ conservation efforts 

since they hold a large number of 

threatened species and employ staff 

with extensive experience of captive 

breeding techniques. However, 

without knowledge of which species, 

and how many individuals per species, 

zoos hold, it is difficult for the conservation 

community to appreciate 

the status of their “insurance populations”. 

In this article, we outline the 

findings from our recent publication 

(Conde et al. 2011a), where we carried 

out a detailed accounting of zoo 

species using the freely available data 

from the International Species Information 

System (ISIS) and the Red List 

of Threatened Species published by 

the International Union for Conservation 

of Nature (IUCN). 

ISIS is an organisation that holds the 

most extensive information on zoo 

animals, with more than 2.6 million 

individuals across more than 800 

member institutions. Although ISIS 

does not represent all of the world’s 

zoos, it has the best data available to 

estimate the representation of the 

planet’s biodiversity in captivity. In 

Conde et al. (2011a), we matched the 

species-level data in ISIS zoos with 

the latest IUCN Red List data. The 

taxonomic matching was done at the 

species level for terrestrial vertebrates 

(i.e. mammals, birds, reptiles 

and amphibians). Where the ISIS and 

IUCN taxonomic names differed, we 

used the Catalogue of Life for taxonomic 

synonyms. The ISIS data were 

then mapped to obtain the distribution 

of threatened species across ISIS 

zoos.


Terrestrial Vertebrates 

in ISIS Zoos 

Conde et al. (2011a) found that 

one-quarter of the world’s described 

bird species and almost 20% of its 

mammal species are represented in 

ISIS zoos. In contrast, the representation 

of reptiles and amphibians is 

considerably lower with just 12% and 

4%, respectively (Fig. 1). The picture 

is slightly different when we focus 

solely on threatened species. Mammals 

have the highest representation, 

with 24%, 23% and 19% of species 

classified as Vulnerable, Endangered 

and Critically Endangered, respectively 

(Fig. 2). Although the bird collections 

account for one-quarter of all 

known species, the representation of 

threatened species is lower (Vulnerable 

= 17%, Endangered = 17%, Critically 

Endangered = 9%). However, the 

lowest representation of threatened 

species is for amphibians, with only 

4%, 2% and 3% of species classified as 

Vulnerable, Endangered and Critically 

Endangered, respectively (41% 

of amphibian species are threatened 

and ISIS zoos hold only 4% of all 

described amphibian species). IUCN 

has so far only assessed the conservation 

status of 1,672 of the 9,205 

described reptile species. From this 

incomplete survey, zoos hold 37%, 

28% and 51% of species classified as 

Vulnerable, Endangered and Critically 

Endangered, respectively. As a whole, 

roughly one in seven threatened species 

of terrestrial vertebrates (15%) 

are represented in ISIS zoos. 

Although individual zoos usually 

do not hold large numbers of individuals 

of particular species of conservation 

concern, zoos as a global network 

hold important populations for 

some of the more highly threatened 

species. For example, almost onequarter 

of the amphibian populations 

and 21% of the mammal populations 

include more than 250 individuals 

worldwide (Fig. 2). The figure is 

smaller for bird and reptile populations; 

only 8% and 6%, respectively, 

exceed 250 individuals. 

Fig. 1 

The number of terrestrial vertebrates in ISIS zoos compared 

to the number of described species. 

Threatened Species 

The distribution of threatened species 

among the world’s ISIS zoos does 

not coincide with the distribution of 

threatened species in the wild (Fig. 3). 

Zoos that hold most threatened species 

are concentrated in Europe and 

North America, while most of the 

wild populations of threatened species 

are concentrated in the tropics. 

However, it is important to emphasise 

that this map only shows species 

richness and does not account for the 

number of individuals per species. 

Consequently, zoos that hold a large 

number of species, albeit populations 

consisting of few individuals, would 

rank higher (brighter on this map) 

than zoos having small numbers of 

species with large population sizes. 

In this sense, Fig. 3 only shows the 

distribution of threatened species 

across zoos and it should not be seen 

as a measure of how zoos contribute 

to conservation. 

27 

»

28 Threatened Species 


» 

Fig. 2 

Endangered species in zoos. Top: the number of species organised by IUCN Red List status (colour bars) and the number 

of those species that are in ISIS zoos (black bars). Bottom: the number of individuals for all species represented in ISIS 

zoos. The vertical broken lines show the boundaries by 250, 50 and 10 individuals. The large numbers of species classified 

as Vulnerable and Near Threatened are omitted for clarity (modified from Conde et al. 2011a). 

Discussion 

Zoos already hold important populations 

for certain threatened species; 

this is especially so for mammals. 

However, zoos are rethinking the 

way they should manage their collections 

if they want to maximise 

efforts for ex situ conservation. For 

birds, for example, the total number 

of threatened species is low and it is 

even lower considering the number 

of individuals in highly threatened 

categories, with only 8% of them 

above 250 individuals; the figure is 

similar for reptiles. Although zoos 

have significantly increased their 

collection holdings for amphibians, as 

a result of the amphibian crisis, they 

can focus on further increasing these 

collections. As well it may be advisable 

for particular zoos to specialise 

their collections on a smaller number 

of at-risk taxa rather than aiming to 

increase diversity, since it has been 

shown that specialisation increases 

breeding success (Conway 2011). 

Zoos’ contribution to conservation is 

not limited to captive breeding, but 

as well is growing towards research, 

education and the financing of in situ 

conservation projects. For example, 

members of the WAZA network 

collectively are the third largest 

contributor to field conservation 

projects worldwide after The Nature 

Conservancy and the WWF global 

network. As a global network, WAZA 

zoos and aquariums contribute approximately 

US$ 350 million per year 

(Gusset & Dick 2011). However, zoos’ 

contribution towards conservation 

could extend further. The accumu- 

lated knowledge and data that the 

zoo community has collected on the 

ISIS network could provide key data 

for species for which we lack such 

information from the wild, especially 

since adequate data from natural 

environments are often unavailable 

for threatened species. For example, 

demographic data such as average 

litter size, interval between successive 

litters and age at maturity could 

be used to fill knowledge gaps for the 

development of population viability 

analyses. Of course, if these data are 

used it should be with caution, since 

zoo conditions and the management 

of the populations do not mimic the 

conditions in the wild. Furthermore, 

the data accumulated by the zoo 

network in ISIS can be used to assess 

selection pressures on the species 

in captivity; this could inform which 

of these pressures may hamper the


Fig. 3 

Species richness map for threatened mammals, birds and amphibians within ISIS zoos 

(top) and in their natural ranges (bottom; modified from Grenyer et al. 2006). 

Zoo species richness is represented by points coloured to indicate the number 

of species within individual zoos; global species richness corresponds to 

the number of species occurring within a 1° latitude by 1° longitude cell. 

Reptiles are omitted because the IUCN Red List assessment is still 

incomplete (modified from Conde et al. 2011a). 

success of their reintroductions into 

the wild (Pelletier et al. 2009). In this 

sense, studbook keepers have an 

important responsibility and a key 

role to play since the data they collect 

cannot only be helpful for the 

management of the species in their 

institutions but also for the development 

of conservation and management 

programmes, such as the 

reintroduction of threatened species 

into the wild. 

The implementation of cooperative 

captive breeding programmes across 

large numbers of institutions, which 

are also referred as Intensively Managed 

Populations (IMPs), is one of the 

more demanding actions where zoos 

as a global network could play a key 

role. There are many challenges that 

must be overcome in order to further 

develop these programmes. For 

example, one of the first issues will be 

to identify which species will need the 

assistance of captive breeding before 

it is too late to successfully implement 

it. The Conservation Breeding 

Specialist Group (CBSG) of the IUCN 

Species Survival Commission (SSC) 

is currently working on guidelines to 

identifying those species. Another 

challenge is to estimate the capacity 

of zoos, both in terms of space and 

monetary funds, to manage sustainable 

IMPs that could be reintroduced 

into the wild over the long term. For 

this reason, accurate data on at-risk 

species will be essential for the prioritisation 

and management of IMPs. In 

the future, organisations such as ISIS 

will certainly play an active role in 

providing critical information support 

for IMP programmes among member 

zoos across the world; therefore, 

there is a need for more institutions 

to become part of this global network, 

in particular for zoos in countries that 

are located in areas with high biodiversity 

and high threat, but which are 

under-represented in ISIS. Zoos are at 

the forefront of global conservation 

efforts and, with their combined efforts, 

their network has the potential 

to make a huge difference. 

References 

Threatened Species 29 



A. (2011a) An emerging role 


Science 331: 1390–1391. 



A. (2011b) Zoos and Captive 

Breeding – Response. Science 

332: 1150–1151. 




• Grenyer, R., Orme, C. D. L., Jackson, 

S. F., Thomas, G. H., Davies, 

R. G. et al. (2006) Global distribution 

and conservation of rare and 

threatened vertebrates. Nature 

444: 93–96. 

• Gusset, M. & Dick, G. (2011) 

The global reach of zoos and 

aquariums in visitor numbers and 

conservation expenditures. Zoo 

Biology 30: in press. 

• Hoffmann, M., Hilton-Taylor, C., 

Angulo, A., Böhm, M., Brooks, 

T. M. et al. (2010) The impact of 

conservation on the status of the 

world’s vertebrates. Science 330: 

1503–1509. 

• Pelletier, F., Réale, D., Watters, J., 

Boakes, E. H. & Garant, D. (2009) 

Value of captive populations for 

quantitative genetics research. 

Trends in Ecology and Evolution 

24: 263–270.


Kathy Traylor-Holzer 

Identifying Gaps and 

Opportunities for Inter-regional 

Ex Situ Species Management 

1 * 

Summary 

A database of 942 studbook and managed 

ex situ animal taxa was compiled 

and assessed to better understand 

the characteristics of managed 

species and to be used as a tool for 

identifying management opportunities. 

Mammals and birds account for 

76% of studbook/managed taxa, and 

48% of managed taxa are considered 

to be threatened by IUCN. Most taxa 

are only managed in one region; only 

10% of managed taxa are intensively 

managed in multiple regions. Regional 

differences exist in number of 

programmes, taxa and management 

intensity. There are 77 threatened 

taxa with multiple regional studbooks 

that are priority candidates for an 

international studbook; similarly, the 

database identified 69 threatened 

species that are intensively managed 

in multiple regions, and should be 

further assessed for the potential 

benefits and feasibility of interregional 

management. Cooperation 

and management among regional 

programmes may improve the viability 

of non-sustainable regional 

populations and encourage increased 

range country ex situ involvement. 





kathy@cbsg.org 

Threatened Species 

in Zoos 

One-fifth of the 33,468 vertebrate 

species assessed in the 2010 Red List 

of Threatened Species published by 


of Nature (IUCN) are classified as 

threatened (i.e. Critically Endangered, 

Endangered or Vulnerable), and the 

projected future trend is not optimistic. 

The number of threatened vertebrate 

species has doubled from 1996 

to 2010 – from 3,314 to 6,714 species. 

Each year about 52 species of mammals, 

birds and amphibians move one 

category of threat closer to extinction 

(Hoffmann et al. 2010), and 15–37% 

of species across sampled regions are 

predicted to be “committed to extinction” 

due to climate change (Thomas 

et al. 2004). Clearly, there is a great 

need for increased conservation efforts 

to prevent species extinctions, 

including the intensive management 

of animal populations both in situ 

and ex situ. 

Intensive management of populations 

by zoos and aquariums can play 

a myriad of roles that can contribute 

to species conservation. Not all threatened 

species benefit from ex situ 

management, as outlined in the IUCN 

Technical Guidelines on the Management 

of Ex Situ Populations for Conservation 

(IUCN 2002), but for some it 

has played a critical conservation role 

(Hoffmann et al. 2010). Conde et al. 

(2011) estimate that 15% of threatened 

terrestrial vertebrate species are 

held in zoos (based on the holdings 

database of the International Species 

Information System [ISIS]), with the 

proportion being higher for mammals 

and birds. However, over one-half 

of these species are held in numbers 

totalling fewer than 50 individuals. 

These ex situ populations vary greatly 

not only in size but in degree of active 

monitoring and cooperative management. 

Population-level management 

requires a population database 

(studbook), analysis of these data and 

application of the results into population 

planning to achieve demographic 

and genetic goals for the species. 

Only 9% of species registered at ISIS 

are monitored through an officially 

recognised studbook (Oberwemmer 

et al., this issue); a smaller portion 

of these are managed actively at the 

population level. Population management 

also varies among geographic 

regions, as some regional zoo 

associations have well-established 

administrative and training resources 

to promote population management, 

while this capacity is still developing 

in other regions. 

As evidenced by many of the articles 

in this issue, much concern has 

been expressed regarding the lack 

of sustainability of most zoo populations, 

including managed populations. 

Most management efforts, however, 

are conducted at the regional level. 

Inter-regional management through 

international studbooks and global 

management programmes has the 

potential to improve viability through 

careful metapopulation management 

(Leus et al. 2011). Cooperative 

programmes among regions also may 

help to expand involvement by range 

countries or developing zoo associations 

in species conservation.


Zoos hold only a small fraction of the 

world’s threatened species, maintain 

studbooks for only a portion of these 

and actively manage even fewer, 

often not effectively as sustainable 

populations. A database of species 

managed by the regional zoo associations 

was compiled to evaluate the 

scope of the situation, to assess the 

level of management across taxa and 

regions and to serve as a potential 

tool to identify gaps and opportunities 

for inter-regional management in 

existing zoo populations. 

Managed Species 

Database 

A database was developed comprised 

of 942 taxa monitored (via an active 

studbook) and/or actively managed 

by regional zoo associations or under 

the Amphibian Ark (AArk). Taxa were 

listed at the species level except in 

a few cases in which multiple regions 

manage by subspecies and/or the category 

of threat deviated by subspecies. 

Partula snails were considered as 

one taxon, although approximately 

20 species are managed. For each 

taxon, the 2010 IUCN Red List status 

of threat was recorded along with 

the presence of any monitored or 

managed population in each of ten 

regional zoo associations – AZA 

(North America), EAZA (Europe), ZAA 

(Australasia), JAZA (Japan), CAZG 

(China), SEAZA (South East Asia), 

CZA (India), PAAZAB (Africa), ALPZA 

(Latin America) and AMACZOOA 

(Mesoamerica) – as well as AArk, and 

the level of management, using the 

following definitions: 

• Monitored population: Regional or 

international studbook only; this 

category also includes ZAA MON1 

and MON2 programmes. No population-level 

management. 

Fig. 1 

Percentage of 4,733 IUCN-assessed threatened taxa that are held in ISIS member zoos (14.7%), 

have studbooks (8.9%), are managed (7.7%) and are intensively managed (5.4%). 

• Managed population: Some 

population-level management (e.g. 

studbook data analysis, general 

recommendations for breeding and/ 

or transfers); this category includes 

AZA Population Management Plans 

(PMPs), EAZA European Studbooks 

(ESBs) and low-intensity management 

programmes identified by 

other regional associations. 

• Intensively managed population: 

Structured population-level management 

(e.g. species management 

committee, mandatory breeding 

and transfer plan); this category 

includes AZA Species Survival Plans 

(SSPs), EAZA European Endangered 

Species Programmes (EEPs), 

ZAA Conservation Programmes 

(CPs) and Population Management 

Programmes (PMPs), AArk programmes 

and other high-intensity 

management programmes identified 

by other regional associations. 

Programme data were obtained either 

directly from the zoo associations, 

population managers working in the 

region and/or association websites, 

and are believed to be current as of 

early 2011. For analysis purposes, species 

listed as Extinct in the Wild were 

included among threatened taxa. 

Managed Programmes 

Managed Species 

Characteristics 

The majority of the 942 monitored 

taxa are mammals (44%) and birds 

(31%), with the rest divided among 

reptiles (10%), amphibians (7%), 

fishes (7%) and invertebrates (< 1%). 

Studbooks fall evenly between 

threatened (48%) and non-threatened 

(45%) taxa, with the remaining 

7% of undetermined threat status 

(Data Deficient or not assessed by 

IUCN). Comparison of this database 

with data reported by Conde 

et al. (2011) indicate that while 15% 

of threatened vertebrate species 

(excluding fish) are held in zoos, only 

about one-third of these (5.4%) are 

intensively managed by zoos (Fig. 1). 

31 

»

32 Managed Programmes 


» 

Although species may be held in 

multiple regions, most management 

takes place within a single region (Table 

1). Most (65%) of the 942 monitored 

taxa are monitored by a studbook 

in only one region, 20% have 

multiple regional studbooks and 15% 

have international studbooks. For 

those taxa that are actively managed, 

most are managed in only one region 

and only 50 are managed by more 

than two regions (mean number of 

management programmes = 1.3). 

Rates for multiregional management 

are higher for threatened (29%) than 

for non-threatened (4%) taxa, and 

threatened taxa (60%) are managed 

more intensively than non-threatened 

taxa (27%). About 10% of the 

942 monitored taxa are intensively 

managed by two or more regions, 

most of these being threatened taxa 

(N = 79). This means that only 1.6% of 

the 4,733 IUCN-assessed threatened 

mammal, bird, reptile and amphibian 

species are intensively managed by 

more than one regional programme. 

Regional Differences 

Not surprisingly, AZA and EAZA 

account for the largest number of actively 

managed populations (550 and 

358 taxa, respectively) – these are 

large regional zoo associations with 

long-standing histories of population 

management, established population 

management advisors and 

regular training courses for studbook 

keepers and species coordinators. 

With smaller capacity, ZAA manages 

a smaller number of taxa (N = 83), but 

essentially all are managed intensively. 

Other regions are quickly 

developing studbook and population 

management expertise; most notably, 

JAZA has made a strong commitment 

to population management in recent 

years, now maintaining studbooks for 

142 species and managing about half 

of these on some level. While AZA, 

EAZA and ZAA have the longest his- 

Table 1. 

Number of taxa in the database (N = 942) that have studbooks, management 

programmes and intensive management programmes compared to the 

number of regional zoo associations coordinating those programmes 

(proportion for each column given in parentheses). 

Number 

Studbook/database Population-level 

Intensive 

of regions 

management 

management 

0 111 (0.12) 549 (0.58) 

1 664 (0.70)* 607 (0.64) 296 (0.31) 

2 181 (0.19) 174 (0.18) 72 (0.08) 

3 58 (0.06) 38 (0.04) 19 (0.02) 

4 26 (0.03) 12 (0.01) 6 (0.01) 

5 8 (0.01) 0 0 

6 5 (0.01) 0 0 

*An international studbook is the single database for 49 of these taxa. 

torical capacity for population management, 

not all taxa are managed 

within these three regions. If AArk 

programmes are excluded, 110 taxa 

are monitored via studbooks outside 

of these three regions; of these, 29 

taxa are managed and 12 are intensively 

managed by the other seven 

regional associations (Fig. 2). 

Regions differ in other ways in terms 

of the taxa they monitor and manage. 

All regions hold studbooks or management 

programmes unique to their 

region – that is, they are the only 

region with a studbook or management 

programme for that taxon (although 

specimens might be present 

in other regions). While AZA (N = 309) 

and EAZA (N = 144) have the highest 

number of unique programmes, 

a high percentage of studbook or 

programme taxa in ZAA (53%) and 

CZA (63%) are exclusively managed 

in those regions. CAZG, CZA and 

SEAZA have the largest proportion of 

their studbook/managed taxa (82%, 

67% and 85%, respectively) comprised 

of threatened taxa. JAZA (25%) 

and PAAZAB (24%) have a larger proportion 

of their studbook/managed 

taxa represented by reptiles, amphibians 

and fishes compared to other 

regions. Although AArk programmes 

are found worldwide, the majority of 

species are being managed in North, 

Central and South America. Each 

region offers unique contributions to 

ex situ population management and 

conservation. 

Opportunities 

for Inter-regional 

Management 

This database represents taxa that 

are already living in the world’s zoos 

and for which some population-level 

data exist within one or more studbooks. 

Various criteria can be used 

to filter these 942 taxa to identify 

potential candidates for inter-regional 

management in a structured 

fashion. For example, among those 

801 taxa for which there is currently 

no international studbook, there are 

77 threatened taxa with two or more 

regional studbooks and/or managed 

populations, and an additional 

11 non-threatened taxa with at least 

two intensively managed populations. 

These taxa can be easily identified 

and are potential priority candidates 

for an international studbook. Similarly, 

there are 79 threatened taxa 

with at least two intensively managed 

populations, only ten of which 

are currently being managed interregionally 

in some coordinated fashion 

– the remaining 69 are potential 

candidates for global management.


Fig. 2 

Number of taxa for which there are studbooks, low intensity managed populations 

or intensively managed populations for each of ten regional zoo associations 

as well as the Amphibian Ark. 

There are many additional factors 

that should be considered, such as 

the genetic and demographic status 

of the ex situ populations as well as 

feasibility issues; however, this tool 

can serve to produce a shorter list of 

potential candidates that can then 

be evaluated more thoroughly with 

additional criteria. Currently, this process 

is being undertaken by WAZA’s 

Committee for Population Management 

(CPM). Another potential use of 

this database is to quickly identify the 

current management level of the ex 

situ population within the native geographic 

range of each taxon. This in 

turn can help to identify gaps where 

range country involvement and ex 

situ population management can be 

encouraged or supported. The expansion 

of the database to explicitly 

identify range country management 

will facilitate this. 

Conclusions 

Increasingly, intensively managed 

populations may be needed to reduce 

the risk of extinction for wildlife 

species. Only a fraction of currently 

threatened species are held by the 

world’s zoos, only about half of these 

are actively managed and a small 

fraction of these are believed to be 

sustainable. There are many opportunities 

to increase the viability of 

regional ex situ populations through 

inter-regional databases and interregional 

population management. 

A database of managed species has 

been created as a tool to help identify 

opportunities for inter-regional cooperation 

and management of existing 

studbook species, including increased 

involvement of range country ex situ 

programmes. 


I would like to thank the following 

individuals for assistance in providing 

programme data and assessments: 

Kazutoshi Takami, Chris Hibbard, 

William van Lint, Christina Henke, 

Danny de Man, Xie Zhong, Sally 

Walker, Caroline Lees, Roz Wilkins, 

Laurie Bingaman Lackey and Virginia 

Lindgren. Thanks to Kristin Leus for 

providing ideas and comments on 

this article. 

References 

Managed Programmes 





Science 331: 1390–1391. 






1503–1509. 

• IUCN (2002) IUCN Technical 

Guidelines on the Management of 

Ex Situ Populations for Conservation. 

Gland: IUCN. 

• Leus, K., Traylor-Holzer, K. & 

Lacy, R. C. (2011) Genetic and 

demographic population management 

in zoos and aquariums: 

recent developments, future 

challenges and opportunities for 

scientific research. International 


• Thomas, C. D., Cameron, A., 

Green, R. E., Bakkenes, M., Beaumont, 

L. J. et al. (2004) Extinction 

risk from climate change. Nature 

427: 145–148. 

33

34 

Frank Oberwemmer 

Which Species Have a Studbook 

and How Threatened Are They? 

1 *, Laurie Bingaman Lackey2 & Markus Gusset3 Summary 

We sought to provide an understanding 

of the taxonomic representation 

and threat status of species with 

a studbook, using data on all studbooks 

registered in the ISIS/WAZA 

studbook library and data on threat 

status from the IUCN Red List of 

Threatened Species. Studbooks for 

1,027 different species are actively 

updated. The majority of species with 

an active studbook are vertebrates 

(96.3%), mainly comprised of mammals 

(48.8%) and birds (31.8%). There 

are active studbooks for 1.6% of all 

62,574 described vertebrates, including 

9.1% of known mammals and 

3.3% of known birds. Of those species 

with an active studbook, 41.5% are 

classified as threatened (i.e. Vulnerable, 

Endangered or Critically Endangered) 

on the IUCN Red List; 17 out of 

34 animal species (50.0%) classified 

as Extinct in the Wild have an active 

studbook. Of the 989 vertebrates 

with an active studbook, 42.6% are 

classified as threatened; 8.6% of 

25,780 assessed vertebrates classified 

as threatened have an active studbook. 

Without studbooks, it would be 

virtually impossible to scientifically 

manage animal populations in human 

care. 

1 Leipzig Zoo, Leipzig, Germany 



3 World Association of Zoos 

and Aquariums, Gland, Switzerland 


foberwemmer@zoo-leipzig.de 

Background 

With more than 700 million visitors 

worldwide annually and conservation 

expenditures in the range of US$ 350 

million each year (Gusset & Dick 

2011), the world zoo and aquarium 

community has the potential to play 

an important role in both environmental 

education and wildlife 

conservation. Indeed, a recent 

evaluation of the impact of conservation 

on the status of the world’s 

vertebrates (Hoffmann et al. 2010) 

showed that conservation breeding 

in zoos and aquariums has played 

a role in the recovery of 28% of the 

68 species whose threat status was 

reduced according to the Red List of 

Threatened Species published by the 

International Union for Conservation 

of Nature (IUCN). Species previously 

classified as Extinct in the Wild that 

have improved in status thanks to the 

reintroduction of captive-bred animals 

include the Przewalski’s horse 

(Equus ferus przewalskii), black-footed 

ferret (Mustela nigripes) and California 

condor (Gymnogyps californianus). 

International and regional studbooks 

provide the data necessary for coordinating 

such conservation breeding 

efforts across zoological institutions. 

Studbooks are repositories of 

pedigree and demographic data on 

animals kept in human care internationally 

or regionally (Bingaman 

Lackey 2010). According to the International 

Species Information System 

(ISIS), as of July 2010 there were 

studbooks for 1,174 different species 

included on the international (kept 

under the auspices of WAZA) and/or 

one of the regional zoo associations’ 

lists of species to have a studbook 


(a number of species have multiple 

regional studbooks assigned). Of the 

13,004 species registered at ISIS, 9% 

thus have a studbook. Of these, 1,027 

are actively updated, while 147 are 

no longer being maintained (i.e. they 

were “archived”) for various reasons 

(e.g. because there is no further need 

for the studbook, no captive animals 

are left to track or the studbook 

keeper could not be replaced). 

Zoos and aquariums worldwide keep 

at least 15% of threatened terrestrial 

vertebrate species (Conde et al. 2011), 

but populations of wild animals in 

human care are often not viable in 

the long term (Lees & Wilcken 2009). 

Captive ruminants with an international 

studbook have a significantly 

higher relative life expectancy than 

those without (Müller et al. 2011), 

suggesting that the existence of 

a studbook may impact conservation 

breeding efforts. However, in terms 

of their conservation role, we lack 

an understanding of the taxonomic 

representation and threat status of 

species with a studbook. To this end, 

we initiated the present study, using 

data on all studbooks registered in 

the ISIS/WAZA studbook library and 

data on threat status from the IUCN 

Red List as of July 2010.

WAZA magazine Vol 12/2011 Studbooks 35 

Taxonomic 

Representation 

The majority of species with an active 

studbook are vertebrates (96.3%), 

mainly comprised of mammals 

(48.8%) and birds (31.8%) (Fig. 1). 

Vertebrates constitute just over 3% 

of the ca. 1.8 million described species 

and include 5,498 mammals, 

10,027 birds, 9,084 reptiles, 6,638 amphibians 

and 31,327 fishes (Hoffmann 

et al. 2010). There are thus active 

studbooks for 1.6% of all 62,574 described 

vertebrates, including 9.1% of 

known mammals and 3.3% of known 

birds. Studbooks for reptiles were 

significantly more often (chi-square 

analysis: χ 2 = 8.84, P = 0.003), whereas 

studbooks for fishes tended to be less 

often (χ 2 = 3.61, P = 0.06), archived 

than those for other taxonomic 

groups. 

Threat Status 

Of those species with an active studbook, 

41.5% are classified as threatened 

(i.e. Vulnerable, Endangered or 

Critically Endangered) on the IUCN 

Red List (Fig. 2); 17 out of 34 animal 

species (50.0%) classified as Extinct 

in the Wild have an active studbook. 

Of the 989 vertebrates with an active 

studbook, 42.6% are classified as 

threatened. A recent survey of 25,780 

vertebrates represented in the IUCN 

Red List (including all mammals, birds, 

amphibians, cartilaginous fishes and 

statistically representative samples 

of reptiles and bony fishes) revealed 

that 19% are classified as threatened 

(Hoffmann et al. 2010). Thus, 8.6% of 

all assessed vertebrates classified as 

threatened have an active studbook. 

Studbooks for Least Concern and 

Near Threatened species tended to 

be more often archived than those 

for threatened and Extinct in the Wild 

species (χ 2 = 3.32, P = 0.07). 

Fig. 1 

Taxonomic representation of species with a studbook. 

Fig. 2 

Threat status of species with a studbook (*no entry = species not found on IUCN Red List). 

Conservation Role 

More than 1,000 different species 

have a studbook (cf. Conde et al. 

2011). Species with a studbook are 

heavily biased towards (charismatic) 

vertebrates; around one out of ten 

known mammals has a studbook. 

While about one-fifth of all assessed 

vertebrates are classified as threatened 

on the IUCN Red List, about 

two-fifths of all studbooks cover 

threatened vertebrates; around one 

out of ten threatened vertebrates 

has a studbook. If species with 

a studbook fare better genetically 

and demographically (cf. Müller et al. 

2011), there is potential for hundreds 

of threatened vertebrates to benefit 

from the conservation role that 

studbooks may play. However, some 

taxa, especially amphibians as the 

most threatened taxonomic group 

of vertebrates (Hoffmann et al. 2010), 

are grossly under-represented in 

studbooks. 

There are reasons other than a species’ 

threat status that determine 

whether a studbook is established 

or not, including the following: (1) It 

might be considered as important to 

keep charismatic vertebrates (e.g. in 

order to attract visitors), and thus 

to manage these species in the long 

term based on a studbook. (2) Even 

if a species is common in its native 

range, there may be only a small 

number of specimens kept in human 

care (e.g. for educational or research 

»

36 

» 

Studbooks WAZA magazine Vol 12/2011 

purposes), which may necessitate 

managing this stock collaboratively 

for genetic and demographic reasons. 

(3) Species not currently threatened 

may become so in the future, making 

a studbook-based assurance population 

potentially valuable. Therefore, 

given the limited space in zoos and 

aquariums, sound and adaptive collection 

planning to prioritise which 

species to keep, and for which species 

to establish a studbook, is more important 

than ever. 

There are a number of factors that 

may compromise the conservation 

role of species with a studbook, 

including the following: (1) Not all 

of the institutions keeping a given 

species provide pedigree and demographic 

data for inclusion in the studbook, 

reducing the overall number of 

animals in a conservation breeding 

programme. (2) The system of maintaining 

studbooks is based mainly on 

voluntary commitment and few institutions 

have professional studbook 

keepers (or population managers), 

thus the value of studbook data is 

not fully explored. (3) Recommendations 

made by studbook keepers 

regarding animal transfers between 

institutions are not always followed 

or are constrained by legal restrictions, 

impairing the effectiveness of 

a conservation breeding programme. 

All these factors together may diminish 

a captive population’s genetic and 

demographic viability. 

Conclusions 

The potential of zoos and aquariums 

to assume responsibility for conservation 

breeding programmes has been 

growing over the years. No other 

group of institutions has the scientific 

knowledge and practical experience 

to keep and breed thousands 

of animal species, thereby evidently 

contributing to wildlife conservation 

(Hoffmann et al. 2010). Nevertheless, 

these same institutions have not (yet) 

succeeded in managing their populations 

sustainably (Lees & Wilcken 

2009). This is despite frequent calls to 

action over the past 30 years, significant 

scientific input and much organisational 

effort. Although WAZA has 

mandated ISIS with the management 

of studbook data, not all institutions 

are required by their regional zoo associations 

to submit data for inclusion 

in the ISIS/WAZA studbook library. 

Lees & Wilcken (2009) calculated 

that the average population size for 

captive vertebrates would increase by 

42% if regionally managed populations 

were linked up. 

To fulfil the full suite of conservation 

roles required of animal populations 

in human care (Conde et al. 

2011), they must be demographically 

robust, genetically representative 

of wild counterparts and able to 

sustain these characteristics for the 

foreseeable future. International 

and regional studbooks form the 

basis of such conservation breeding 

efforts. Studbook keepers thus 

provide an invaluable service to the 

world zoo and aquarium community; 

the single most important determinant 

of a sound studbook probably is 

having a dedicated keeper. However, 

it seems that studbook data are not 

being adequately translated into 

management recommendations and/ 

or those recommendations are not 

being implemented within institutions. 

This implies that the system 

of maintaining studbooks needs 

to move from mere bookkeeping 

to proactive population management. 

Based on the above, for zoos 

and aquariums to be a recognised 

conservation force, more professionalism, 

compliance and inter-regional 

cooperation appear to be advisable. 


We are grateful to Gerald Dick, Jörg 

Junhold and Laura Penn for helpful 

comments on this article. 

References 

• Bingaman Lackey, L. (2010) 

Records, studbooks, regional zoo 

associations, and ISIS. In: Wild 

Mammals in Captivity: Principles 

and Techniques for Zoo Management, 

2nd ed. (ed. by Kleiman, D. 

G., Thompson, K. V. & Kirk Baer, 

C.), pp. 504–510. Chicago, IL: 

University of Chicago Press. 





Science 331: 1390–1391. 

• Gusset, M. & Dick, G. (2011) 










1503–1509. 






• Müller, D. W. H., Bingaman 

Lackey, L., Streich, W. J., Fickel, 

J., Hatt, J.-M. & Clauss, M. (2011) 

Mating system, feeding type and 

ex situ conservation effort determine 

life expectancy in captive 

ruminants. Proceedings of the 

Royal Society B 278: 2076–2080.


Dennis W. H. Müller 1 *, Laurie Bingaman Lackey 2 , 

W. Jürgen Streich 3 , Jörns Fickel 3 , Jean-Michel Hatt 1 & Marcus Clauss 1 

How to Measure Husbandry 

Success? The Life Expectancy 

of Zoo Ruminants 

Summary 

Relative life expectancy (i.e. the 

average life expectancy of a species 

expressed as a percentage of the 

maximum longevity ever reported for 

this species) may describe husbandry 

success in captive populations. By 

correlating the relative life expectancy 

with biological characteristics and 

husbandry factors for different species, 

reasons for variations in relative 

life expectancy can be detected. We 

analysed data for 166,901 ruminants 

of 78 species and demonstrated 

the presence of such a correlation 

between relative life expectancy and 

percentage grass in the species’ natural 

diet (not necessarily the diet fed 

in zoos). This suggests that species 

adapted to grass (so-called grazers, 

such as bison and wildebeest) can be 

managed more easily when compared 

to species that feed on leaves 

and twigs (so-called browsers, such 

as giraffe and moose). Another finding 

of our analysis is a true success 

story of zoo animal management: the 

1 Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets 

and Wildlife, Vetsuisse Faculty, 

University of Zurich, Zurich, 

Switzerland 



3 Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife 

Research, Berlin, Germany 


dmueller@vetclinics.uzh.ch 

relative life expectancy was higher in 

species that were managed by an international 

studbook than in species 

not managed this way. This highlights 

the positive effect of intensive 

studbook management on the overall 

husbandry success of the respective 

species. Translating these results into 

husbandry recommendations, our 

approach can help to improve zoo 

animal husbandry. 

Background 

Zoo animal husbandry is aimed at 

constantly improving husbandry conditions, 

provision of veterinary care, 

reproductive success and thus ultimately 

husbandry success. Important 

questions arise from these aims: how 

can husbandry success be measured 

objectively, and how can we improve 

it on the basis of scientific results? 

Although some zoological institutions 

make a great effort to study various 

aspects of wellbeing for certain species, 

comparative analyses needed 

to determine factors influencing the 

husbandry success of different species 

in captivity are rare (Mason 2010). 

In 2003, WAZA proclaimed the goal 

“to exercise the highest standards of 

animal welfare”, leading to the question 

of how husbandry success and 

animal welfare can be measured objectively. 

A comparison of life history 

parameters such as breeding success 

per year or life expectancy between 

a zoo population and a wild population 

is an option to find out whether 

a species fares better in captivity 

than in the wild. In comparing three 

populations of wild but unhunted 

deer species with their respective zoo 

populations, we demonstrated that 

life expectancies of red deer (Cervus 

elaphus) and reindeer (Rangifer 

tarandus) were within the same range 

or even markedly higher in zoos, 

whereas captive roe deer (Capreolus 

capreolus) had a shorter life expectancy 

than their free-ranging conspecifics 

(Müller et al. 2010a). 

We believe that the problems in 

providing adequate browse to captive 

roe deer (a typical browser that feeds 

on leaves and twigs) and problems 

associated with more crowded 

conditions in zoos (as roe deer live 

predominantly solitarily in the wild) 

may have led to nutritional deficiencies 

and increased stress, leading to 

shorter life expectancy in captivity. 

On the other hand, reindeer and red 

deer are naturally socially living and 

are both so-called mixed feeders, 

adapted to feed moderate amounts 

of grass. Thus, they cope well in zoos 

and achieve comparatively high life 

expectancies. Unfortunately, such 

analyses will be restricted to a few 

exemplary comparisons, as reliable 

data for free-ranging populations are 

missing for most species. To test our 

hypotheses that the social system 

and feeding behaviour of a species 

in the wild have an influence on 

husbandry success, we conducted an 

analysis of the life expectancy of ruminant 

species (deer, giraffes, cattle, 

antelopes, gazelles, etc.) in zoos. 

37 

»

38 Life Expectancy 


» 

Comparison of 

Life Expectancy 

among Ruminants 

A comparative analysis of different 

species’ life expectancies in captivity 

can be used to detect factors that 

influence life expectancy in captivity. 

Such factors would consequently 

have an important impact on husbandry 

success and also on animal 

welfare. We used data from approximately 

167,000 animals representing 

78 ruminant species kept in about 

850 zoos around the world (data from 

the International Species Information 

System [ISIS]) to calculate the 

life expectancy of a species’ overall 

zoo population. Life expectancy of 

different species depends on the 

body mass of a species – species with 

a higher body mass such as bison 

(Bison bison) and giraffe (Giraffa 

camelopardalis) achieve higher life 

expectancies than do smaller species 

such as roe deer or gazelles (Gazella 

spp.). Comparative analyses of different 

species’ life expectancies require 

a correction for this effect. This was 

done by calculating the relative life 

expectancy of a species in captivity. 

The average life expectancy of 

a species was hereby expressed as 

a percentage of the maximum longevity 

ever reported for this species. 

Ranging from 0–100%, a relative 

life expectancy of 0% would denote 

the death of all individuals at birth, 

whereas a relative life expectancy of 

100% would imply that all individuals 

reach the maximum longevity for 

that species. For example, assuming 

an average life expectancy of 

80 years and a maximum longevity 

of 122 years for women in western 

Europe, women nowadays have 

a relative life expectancy of 66%. In 

zoo ruminants, the relative life expectancy 

ranged from 27% for moose 

Fig. 1 

A boxplot of the relative life expectancy of ruminant species with low amounts of dietary 

grass in the wild (browsers) in comparison with species that feed moderate proportions of grass 

in the wild (mixed feeders) and species that ingest high proportions of grass in the wild (grazers). 

Included are 20 browsers (e.g. moose), 32 mixed feeders (e.g. Alpine ibex [Capra ibex]) and 

26 grazers (e.g. bison). From top to bottom, boxplots show the highest value, the value 

achieved by 75% of species, the value achieved by 50% of species, the value achieved 

by 25% of species and the lowest value of the relative life expectancy. 

Note that the relative life expectancy was lowest 

in browsing species and highest in grazers. 

(Alces alces) to 59% for Arabian oryx 

(Oryx leucoryx), with a mean relative 

life expectancy of 43% (Müller et al. 

2011). We then tested the influence 

of several biological parameters (e.g. 

feeding behaviour, social system) and 

husbandry measures (e.g. keeping of 

an international studbook for a species) 

on the relative life expectancy. 

The relative life expectancy correlates 

positively with the percentage 

of grass in a species’ natural diet 

(not necessarily the diet fed in zoos) 

(Müller et al. 2010b, 2011). Browsing 

species with a lower percentage of 

grass in their natural diet (e.g. giraffe, 

moose) had, on average, a lower 

relative life expectancy compared 

with grazing species (e.g. bison, 

wildebeest [Connochaetes taurinus]) 

that have a high percentage of grass 

in their natural diet (Fig. 1). Thus, our 

results confirm the general experience 

of zoos where browsing species, 

evolutionarily adapted to eat leaves 

and twigs, have more nutritionrelated 

problems than mixed feeders 

(with a moderate proportion of grass 

in their diet) and grazers. Obviously, 

these nutrition-related health problems 

have a significant influence on 

life expectancy in captivity. 

One of the major achievements of 

zoos in the last century was the conservation 

of species that had become 

extinct in the wild, including European 

bison (Bison bonasus), Przewalski’s 

horse (Equus ferus przewalskii) and 

Père David’s deer (Elaphurus davidianus). 

A major key to this success was 

the cooperation and breeding coordination 

of many zoos with international 

studbooks. Nowadays, conservation 

of endangered species by ex 

situ breeding programmes is one of 

the most important aims of zoological 

institutions (WAZA 2005), and international 

studbooks for more than 

150 species have been established. 

Detailed husbandry recommenda-


Fig. 2 

A boxplot of the relative life expectancy of species that were not managed (N = 64) 

and of species that were managed (N = 14) with the help of an international studbook. 

In descending order, the boxplots show the highest value, the value achieved by 75% 

of species, the value achieved by 50% of species, the value achieved by 25% of species 

and the lowest value of the relative life expectancy. Note that species that were 

managed with an international studbook had a higher relative life expectancy 

compared with species without such management. 

tions including spatial requirements, 

housing facilities, group size and 

composition and feeding regimes are 

often an integral part of these studbooks. 

The relative life expectancy 

was higher in species managed with 

the help of an international studbook 

kept under the auspices of WAZA (Fig. 

2; Müller et al. 2010b, 2011). Consequently, 

the success of such intensive 

population management seems to be 

reflected in the higher life expectancy 

of studbook-managed species. 

Although it is unknown whether 

efforts to reduce inbreeding in 

studbook-managed populations 

as compared to species without an 

international studbook, or the implementation 

of detailed husbandry 

guidelines, have also contributed to 

the higher relative life expectancies 

of the relevant species, this finding 

should encourage more intensive use 

of studbook coordination in additional 

species. 

Conclusions 

Our results identified species that live 

under suboptimal husbandry conditions 

(e.g. moose); additional efforts 

should be undertaken to improve 

these. Furthermore, we identified 

biological characteristics of species 

relevant to their life expectancy in 

captivity, such as natural diet, which 

should be considered in further 

improving husbandry success in zoos. 

Finally, we demonstrated that intensively 

managing a population with 

the help of an international studbook 

has a positive effect on the husbandry 

success of the respective species. 


We thank the Georg and Bertha 

Schwyzer-Winiker-Stiftung and the 

Vontobel-Stiftung for financial support, 

WAZA for enabling the data 

transfer from ISIS and all participating 

zoos for their consistent data 

collection. 

References 

Life Expectancy 

• Mason, G. J. (2010) Species differences 

in responses to captivity: 

stress, welfare and the comparative 

method. Trends in Ecology 

and Evolution 25: 713–721. 

• Müller, D. W. H., Gaillard, J.-M., 

Bingaman Lackey, L., Hatt, J.-M. 

& Clauss, M. (2010a) Comparing 

life expectancy of three deer 

species between captive and wild 

populations. European Journal of 

Wildlife Research 56: 205–208. 


Lackey, L., Streich, J., Hatt, J.-M. 

& Clauss, M. (2010b) Relevance 

of management and feeding 

regimens on life expectancy in 

captive deer. American Journal of 

Veterinary Research 71: 275−280. 


Lackey, L., Streich, W. J., Fickel, 

J., Hatt, J.-M. & Clauss, M. (2011) 

Mating system, feeding type and 

ex situ conservation effort determine 

life expectancy in captive 

ruminants. Proceedings of the 

Royal Society B 278: 2076–2080. 




Berne: WAZA. 

39


Anne M. Baker 

Intensive Management 

of Populations for Conservation 

1 , Robert C. Lacy2,3 *, Kristin Leus4,5 & Kathy Traylor-Holzer3 What is an “Intensively 

Managed Population”? 

As habitats are increasingly altered 

and wildlife populations impacted by 

human activities, more species are 

being actively managed to assure 

their persistence. This has led to 

a new term among conservationists 

– Intensively Managed Populations 

(IMPs). An IMP is one that is 

dependent on human care at the 

individual and population level for its 

persistence (Fig. 1). Ex situ populations 

that depend on managers for 

food, medical treatment, living space, 

protection from predation and access 

to mates are clearly intensively 

managed. Some wild populations are 

reliant on at least some of these kinds 

of individual care and would also fall 

within the scope of IMPs. Populations 

living without regular intervention 

for individuals but requiring management 

at the population level (e.g. 

protection from poaching) or habitats 

will often be “light managed” or “conservation 

dependent” (Cook 2010). 

1 Toledo Zoo, Toledo, OH, USA 

2 Chicago Zoological Society, 

Brookfield, IL, USA 





Breeding Specialist Group Europe, 

c/o Copenhagen Zoo, p/a Merksem, 

Belgium 

5 European Association of Zoos and 

Aquaria, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 


rlacy@ix.netcom.com 

The Opportunity 

for Zoos 

The opportunity for zoological 

institutions to contribute to species 

conservation through the long-term 

maintenance of populations is very 

large. The more than 800 zoos and 

aquariums that are members of the 

International Species Information 

System (ISIS) currently hold more 

than 600,000 living specimens of 

about 4,000 species of tetrapod vertebrates. 

Of these populations, 18% 

are currently for those species identified 

at some level of conservation risk 

in the wild. For mammals and birds, 

zoos hold about one-fifth to onequarter 

of the species identified by 


of Nature (IUCN) as threatened, 

while the numbers are much lower 

for reptiles and amphibians (Conde 

et al. 2011). However, for about half 

of these threatened species, the 

total number of individuals held in all 

ISIS zoos is fewer than 50 specimens, 

a size below which conservationists 

do not consider a population to be 

viable for even the short term. 

Concerns regarding the sustainability 

and not fully realised conservation 

potential of these zoo populations 

led to a workshop on the use of 

intensively managed populations for 

species conservation held in December 

2010 and hosted by San Diego 

Zoo. Facilitated by the Conservation 

Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG) 

of the IUCN Species Survival Commission 

(SSC), the workshop was 

attended by 45 zoo professionals 

from around the world. The purpose 

of the workshop was to address the 

challenge of insuring that intensive 

population management contributes 

to species living within healthy ecosystems 

in evolving communities. 

This workshop involved focused 

discussions on those populations that 

are being intensively managed for the 

conservation of those species. Zoo 

populations serve also important educational, 

aesthetic and cultural values, 

but these roles do not necessarily involve 

the maintenance of threatened 

taxa. Efficient use of resources might 

require that zoo populations that 

are used for educational and display 

purposes also be breeding populations 

of species needing protection 

(Conway 2011), and in those cases 

the management of the populations 

must be adequate for achieving the 

species conservation goals as well as 

the exhibit goals.


Fig. 1 

Intersections of biodiversity conservation, ex situ zoological and botanical institutions and 

intensive management of populations, with examples of the activities that fall within each region. 

The centre of overlap between all three circles are those ex situ populations that are being 

managed intensively to help achieve their conservation. That region plus the intensively 

managed wild populations constitutes the focus of the discussions 

on the use of IMPs for conservation. 

Working groups tackled aspects of 

intensive population management for 

species conservation, from identifying 

priority species for management 

to improving management effectiveness 

and increasing collaboration. 

The following goal encapsulates 

much of what participants believe 

zoos need to achieve: The world 

zoo and aquarium communities are, 

and are acknowledged as, effective 

conservation partners in the context of 

integrated conservation strategies that 

include intensive population management. 

To work towards this goal, we must: 

• Change the current paradigm of 

the ways zoos contribute to species 

conservation by committing to 

conservation missions and adopting 

appropriate business models to 

achieve this. 

• Incorporate IMPs as potential 

effective conservation tools into 

holistic species conservation strategies, 

increase collaboration with 

conservation partners and improve 

understanding of the role of IMPs in 

conservation. 

• Improve the viability and success of 

long-term IMP programmes, ensuring 

that each species has a precise 

and appropriate management plan 

and adequate resources to achieve 

its roles. 

• Improve the success of species conservation 

programmes by optimally 

utilising populations along a management 

continuum, including exploration 

of alternative approaches 

to population management and 

expanding metapopulation strategies 

for managing multiple populations 

effectively. 

Intensively Managed Populations 

The Challenges 

Regional zoo associations coordinate 

the collaborative management of 

about 800 species, in programmes 

such as the Species Survival Plan 

(SSP) of the Association of Zoos and 

Aquariums (AZA) in North America, 

the European Endangered Species 

Programme (EEP) of the European 


(EAZA), the Australasian Species 

Management Program (ASMP) of the 

Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA) 

Australasia, and others. Often, however, 

these populations are managed 

in isolation and ex situ efforts often 

are not integrated with in situ conservation 

needs or activities, even for 

endangered species. Although we in 

the zoo community have convinced 

ourselves, our staff and our public 

that our managed programmes 

serve important conservation roles 

for those species, rarely can this be 

documented to be the case. 

Population goals for managed 

taxa are usually defined in terms of 

genetics and demographics, rather 

than in terms of supporting species 

conservation. Even given these 

limited goals, most managed zoo 

populations are not sustainable. 

Recent analyses (Baker 2007; Lees & 

Wilcken 2009) and data presented 

at the IMP workshop showed that 

most of these populations are not 

currently being managed at the 

numbers of individuals, reliability and 

predictability of reproduction and 

levels of genetic diversity that would 

be required to assure that they can 

contribute to species conservation. 

Rather than managing for conservation, 

the majority of programmes are 

managing for “acceptable” levels of 

decay and loss, instead of for truly 

sustainable, resilient and adaptable 

populations that will be available and 

suitable to serve conservation needs 

in the future. Not surprisingly, some 

colleagues within the conservation 

and scientific community do not see 

the conservation value of intensively 

managed ex situ populations. 

41 

»

42 Intensively Managed Populations 


» 

Fig. 2 

The desired and expected shifts of emphasis among roles. Ex situ facilities have the capacity 

and responsibility to focus more of their resources on actions that directly lead to improved 

species conservation (arrow A). Moreover, to be able to sustain also exhibit populations 

for other purposes, increased management will be needed for those ex situ populations 

that will not be easily replaceable (arrow B). As wild environments continue to be 

degraded by increasing human activities, it is expected that more species 

conservation will require coordinated intensive management of both 

ex situ and in situ populations (arrow C). 

Zoos can become and be seen as very 

powerful forces for species conservation, 

not only through the significant 

resources that they direct towards 

field conservation programmes 

(to which members of the WAZA 

network contribute more than US$ 

350 million per year; Gusset & Dick 

2011), but also through the direct 

conservation roles of the populations 

managed within their collections. 

Reaching this goal will require 

strategic assessment, planning and 

action, and this will occur only if 

zoos shift their focus from managing 

facilities as places with animals 

that also do some conservation, to 

managing themselves as conservation 

organisations that support ex 

situ animal populations in order to 

reach conservation goals (Fig. 2). The 

World Zoo and Aquarium Conservation 

Strategy (WAZA 2005) identifies 

conservation as the primary purpose 

for modern zoological institutions. 

However, most zoos are still managed 

in ways that demonstrate that 

they are focused first on exhibition; 

they attend to conservation only 

when resources permit or when the 

conservation serves the other goals 

of the institution. 

Changing 

the Paradigms 

Effecting this shift will not be easy 

and will require that zoos change 

a number of current practices and 

paradigms. At the outset they need 

to work more collaboratively with 

others in the conservation community, 

working together to assess species 

for their full range of conservation 

needs and developing holistic species 

management plans. There are a few 

shining examples of collaboration between 

Taxon Advisory Groups (TAGs) 

of regional zoo associations and the 

IUCN/SSC Specialist Groups; this type 

of interaction needs to be expanded. 

The networks of taxon conservation 

experts in the IUCN/SSC Specialist 

Groups should be best able to identify 

which taxa require intensive management 

as part of the species conservation 

strategies. However, they are 

unlikely to provide that guidance 

unless they view the zoo community 

as effective partners in conservation. 

Achieving that level of confidence in 

the role of zoos in species conservation 

will require changes in both the 

practices and the perception of zoos. 

Methods are needed to assess the 

need and value for intensive management 

and also for prioritising 

these taxa; factors to be taken into 

account include existing expertise, 

capabilities, resources and likelihood 

of success. This cannot be accomplished 

without reaching outside of 

the ex situ community to embrace 

other stakeholders, including field 

biologists, academics, regional and 

global conservation organisations 

and interdisciplinary specialists such 

as sociologists.


With clear goals defined by holistic 

species management plans, ex situ 

programmes will need to be refined 

and restructured to maximise success. 

The traditional approach of 

trying to sustain zoo populations only 

through breeding within exhibition 

programmes will be sufficient for 

only a relatively small number of 

species – those that are so popular 

that large exhibit populations will 

be maintained, that breed readily in 

exhibit facilities with little need for 

specialised facilities and that are easy 

to transport and amenable to periodic 

rearrangement of social groups. For 

the remaining species, a broader 

range of population management 

strategies needs to be considered 

along a management continuum 

(Conway 2011). For some species, this 

may mean Global Species Management 

Plans (GSMPs) administered 

by WAZA. For others, it may mean 

placing breeding individuals into 

specialised breeding facilities, while 

ensuring that exhibit needs can be 

met with non-breeding animals. For 

yet others, it may mean exploring 

the concept of extractive reserves, 

a strategy that the aquarium community 

has already made progress in 

developing. 

Accomplishing the above will require 

additional resources and has implications 

for how ex situ institutions structure 

their financial plans. We will need 

to better understand our business 

models, questioning assumptions 

about what we believe may negatively 

impact our ability to manage 

species effectively. For example, zoos 

often assume that the public wants to 

see a huge variety of species and that 

if species collections are similar from 

zoo to zoo, then attendance will suffer. 

We assume that exhibits need to 

be large and elaborate to be successful. 

These assumptions need to be 

tested, as they impact our ability to 

develop business plans that expand 

our ability to adequately resource 

intensive population management in 

support of conservation goals. 

There are a number of factors that 

have contributed to a lack of success 

for many IMPs. Common problems 

include lack of necessary husbandry 

expertise, regulatory obstacles, space 

limitations, inadequate founder base 

and lack of institutional commitment, 

exacerbated by poor communication 

among staff and lack of 

accountability for those responsible 

for implementation of recommendations. 

None of these obstacles is insurmountable, 

but overcoming them 

will require commitment to change. 

Discussion among IMP workshop participants 

led to the identification of 

specific actions needed in areas from 

species prioritisation to collection 

planning, exploration of new management 

approaches and integration 

with other conservation efforts and 

partners. Putting these recommendations 

into action to achieve success 

will require concerted efforts by zoo 

associations, zoos and individuals. Efforts 

are already underway to implement 

some of the necessary activities 

identified at the IMP workshop. The 

scope and urgency of the species conservation 

crisis obligates us to move 

ahead as quickly as possible. 

Intensively Managed Populations 43 

References 








L. A. & West, C.), pp. 139–154. 


Press. 





Science 331: 1390–1391. 




• Cook, R. A. (2010) Defining what 

it means to save a species – the 

species conservation program of 

the Wildlife Conservation Society. 

In: Proceedings of the 65th WAZA 

Annual Conference (ed. by Dick, 

G.), pp. 30–31. Gland: WAZA. 

• Gusset, M. & Dick, G. (2011) 













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44 


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